Former vicar of Brenchley and war veteran John Meacham mourned
John Meacham, a former vicar of Brenchley, has died.
Mr Meacham was born in Plymouth in 1924, one of three brothers. The son of a professional soldier and a seamstress, he and his brothers were raised in Belvedere, South London.
During the Second World War, he volunteered to join the Glider Pilot Regiment and trained with the Parachute Regiment in preparation for the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944.
After the war, in 1946 he joined the Palestine police force, becoming at one stage the youngest serving sergeant in the force.
On leaving the Army, Mr Meacham studied at King’s College London and Warminster Theological College, becoming a curate in Maidenhead in 1952, He was ordained in 1953.
While at Maidenhead he met Joy Ager, a local reporter and bellringer. The couple married in 1955 and moved to Croydon, where he became curate of the local parish church.
In 1958, Mr Meacham was made the incumbent at St Michael’s Church in Sittingbourne, where he and his wife had three sons, Tim, David and Andrew.
In 1974 the family moved to Brenchley, he was vicar at All Saints Church until 1983 and while there also taught at Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar. Meanwhile his wife founded the successful village magazine, Roundabout, which is still going strong.
In 1983, the couple moved to Great Wish- ford in Wiltshire where Mr Meacham was chaplain and research assistant to the Bishop of Salisbury.
From 1984 to 1989 he was Secretary of the Church of England Doctrine commission.
He retired in 1988 and took a masters degree in philosophy from the Open University in 1990.
After retirement, the couple returned to Kent, settling in Walmer.
His wife died in 2010 and Mr Meacham was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2015, spending the last few years in a care home in Whitstable.
He died on April 9 at Whitstable and the funeral was held at St Mary-in-Castro, Dover, on May 3.