TEKELS PARK, CAMBERLEY, SURREY, ENGLAND GU15-2LF

The

BETRAYAL

Of

 

 

St Francis Church

at Tekels Park

Camberley, Surrey, England GU15 2LF

 

 

 

St Francis Church

Dedicated to St Francis of Assisi

Located on the Tekels Park Estate

Place of worship of the

Liberal Catholic Church since 1931

_____________

 

The Betrayal

 

The St Francis Church building was a gift from Josephine Chambres who was a church member and has been place of worship since 1931. It is now being sold to a developer and the congregation will have to negotiate for

permission to worship there.

 

The Church is situated on the Tekels Park Estate in Camberley, Surrey, which is the Spiritual Home of the the Theosophical Society (Adyar) in England. The Theosophical Society is selling the park, which is also a sanctuary for wildlife, to a developer.

 

Despite the role of the church, which is part of the Liberal Catholic Denomination, as a place of worship since 1931, the Theosophical Society (Adyar) is selling the conscrated church building along with the Estate.

 

The Liberal Catholic Church was founded by Theosophical Society (Adyar) member, James Ingall Wedgwood in 1915. The Church has remained an integral part of the Theosophical Society (Adyar) but is now being discarded by the Theosophical Society leadership.

 

Theosophical Society (Adyar)

 

Please note that there is more than one Theosophical Society. The Theosophical Society which owns Tekels Park is the Theosophical Society (Adyar) in England which has headquarters at 50 Gloucester Place in London and international headquarters at Adyar in India. It is often referred to as the Adyar Theosophical Society.

 

 

________________________

 

The Liberal Catholic Church

A Bit of Info

 

 

Reverend James Ingall Wedgwood

(1883 - 1951)

Founder of the Liberal Catholic Church

Pictured here in the late 1940s at Tekels Park

where he lived for many years

 

 

The Liberal Catholic Church came into existence as the result of a complete re-organization in 1915-16 of the Old Catholic Church in Great Britain upon a more liberal basis. That Church derived its orders from the Old Catholic archiepiscopal see of Utrecht in Holland. It is neither Roman Catholic nor Protestant. It is called Liberal Catholic because its outlook is both liberal and Catholic. It aims at combining Catholic forms of worship, stately ritual, deep mysticism and witness to the reality of sacramental grace with the widest measure of intellectual liberty and respect for the individual conscience.
(From the Statement of Principles of The Liberal Catholic Church, eight edition, 1986)

 

______________

 

Congregation Thought

it was Their Church

 

The St Francis congregation thought that this was their church and they trusted the Theosophical Society in England of which their church was an integral part. The congregation were not consulted about the decision to sell the church.

 

 

Control of the building will be lost by the church members and any agreement made regarding permission to use the building will be virtually impossible to enforce.

 

 

Many regard a consecrated church

as sacred space

 

 

Could St Francis

be Demolished ?

 

St Francis Church is a locally and not a statutory listed building and therefore has no statutory protection against demolition and, as with use of the building, any agreement on the matter may be difficult to enforce.

 

St Francis is a thriving Church

But for how much longer ?

 

Can the Liberal Catholic Church

really enforce any agreement

regarding the use of St Francis Church ?

 

_______________________________

 

For The Theosophical Society in England

It’s Business as Usual

 

It is difficult to see how development

is compatible with continued existence

of the park’s wildlife.

 

The grass roots Theosophical Society members were not told about the sale of Tekels Park to a developer, and as the official magazine was discontinued by the leadership in January 2010, they have had to rely on blogs and unofficial websites to get information. The official website now mentions the sale but does not say that it is to a developer and many think that the park is being sold to a “Spiritual” organisation similar to the Theosophical Society.

 

 

The Theosophical Society in England has conducted courses, lectures and workshops under the title of “The Theoversity” at Tekels Park for many years. The leadership are now moving operations out to new venues such as Southampton, Glastonbury and Chorley in Lancashire. The participants conveniently won’t see at first hand what is happening to the church or the fate of the Tekels Park animals.

 

 

Selling a sanctuary for wildlife to a developer could turn Tekels Park into a death camp for animal and this is something the Theosophical society leadership certainly don’t want discuss. Replies and comment on the matter by the leadership is extremely hard to come by.

 

Here are 2 websites about the Tekels Park animals

 

 

Future of Tekels Park Badgers in Doubt

 

 

Magnificent Tekels Park to be Sold to a Developer

 

 

____________________

 

Who is selling this

Magnificent

Park & Church

to a Developer ?

 

The leadership are reluctant to answer communications on the matter. The whole deal is shrouded in so much secrecy that even the majority of the Theosophical Society’s actual card carrying members don’t appear to know what is happening but here are some contact points.

 

Tekels Park is owned by;

 

The Theosophical Society in England (Adyar)

50 Gloucester Place

London W1U-8EA

 

Tel 0207 563 9817

www.theosoc.org.uk

office@theosoc.org.uk

 

Please note that there is more than one Theosophical Society. Only the Theosophical Society with its headquarters at Gloucester Place, London is connected to Tekels Park. This is generally known as the Theosophical Society (Adyar) as its international headquarters are in Adyar, India.

 

The Theosophical Society administers the Tekels Park Estate through a limited company

 

The Tekels Park Estate Limited

4-6 Church Road, Burgess Hill,

West Sussex

RH15 9AE,

 

It is reported on some newsboards that the Tekels Park Estate Limited hope to get £6Million for the Estate.

 

 

____________________

St Francis Church

at Tekels Park

Camberley, Surrey, England GU15 2LF

____________________

 

From the Website Owner:- Dave Marsland

 

I am dedicated to the future of the Tekels Park animals and have created this website in support of saving them.

 

My main concern in posting information on this, and related websites, is to draw attention to the sale of the 50 acre sanctuary for wildlife to a property developer and the inevitable deaths of the animals by slaughter or habitat destruction.

 

The killing of the Tekels Park animals would be an obscenity and as a long standing student of Theosophy, I cannot turn a blind eye.

 

I maintain that the Tekels Park management and the Theosophical Society in England leadership have attempted to keep the fate of the Park and its wildlife from public attention and the attention of the Theosophical Society in England members.

 

I am dismayed that as an organization with a great Theosophical tradition, the Liberal Catholic Church has maintained a total silence on the issue of both the Tekels park animals and losing their own church.

 

Dave Marsland

 

You may contact me on davemarsland@walestheosophy.org.uk

 

_____________________________________

 

 

 

The Toff’s Guide to Selling

Tekels Park to a Developer

 

Magnificent Tekels Park

 

St Francis Church

 

Concerns about Tekels Park Wildlife

 

Tekels Park & The Loch Ness Monster

 

Tekels Park For Sale

 

Theosophy Tekels Park

Article describing Tekels Park and its much

cherished wildlife by Theosophist and long

term Tekels Park Resident Madeleine Leslie Smith

 

Party On! Tekels Park NOT! 

 

The Tekels Park Minstrel

 

Future of Tekels Park Badgers in Doubt

 

Hey Look!

Tekels Park is Being Sold to a Developer

 

 

 

TEKELS PARK, CAMBERLEY, SURREY, ENGLAND GU15-2LF