Following the recent passing of Mike Ward, Trustee and long-term member of Goring Free Church, Brenda Baldwin has kindly provided us with a personal recollection of her friendship with Mike.

MEMORIES of MIKE WARD (1960-2026) by Brenda Baldwin

Many of The Connexion folk will remember Mike with great affection, as I do. This is a short personal appreciation.

My first significant contact with Mike was when I gave him a lift to work one morning outside Goring station. (Trains were an abiding love of Mike's throughout his life). He had just become involved with the project to revive the cause at Mortimer West. He asked if I might be interested in joining one of the teams; prayer, feasibility, development. I opted in, with more long-term consequences than I might have imagined! That was in 1991.

Mike had already become involved with our sister churches in Sierra Leone. His first trip abroad was a 2 year VSO posting to Freetown where, using his accountancy skills, he became Freetown City Treasurer. He made many friends in Sierra Leone, including Clinton Jackson and Reuben Dove, and later Magnus and his family. He was a valued part of the SLM too, working with Ken Stone, Christine Stone, Ben Quant among others, and not forgetting Ella Roberts of Goring and her highly successful campaign to supply new beds to the Milton Margai School for the Blind .

Mike visited Bosnia and other trouble spots in the 1990s, usually managing to find some steam trains to photograph. In his professional capacity as a skilled accountant, he also worked variously with Oxfam, the EU, the World Bank and latterly CAFOD. More recently he started and ran a much-needed community bus service in the local villages around Goring; largely funding this out of his own finances as public money become more difficult and other sources dried up.

To me Mike was ‘nephew’ and he called me ‘Auntie’ because my maiden name was Ward. He was devoted to his ‘parents’ (Mike was adopted) and to looking after them as they aged. He was funny, warm, perceptive and nobody's fool, insightful and sharp where money was not well spent or properly accounted for. He was very committed in his faith, showing it in his stewardship, love of Sierra Leone and in a kind and generous heart. 

We often joked about fish heads (in the Sierra Leone diet) and the number of spuds Mike could consume at the Conference at High Leigh!

Now Mike can look forward to a more sumptuous banquet in glory. Amen.

'Auntie’ Brenda

(Photo shows Mike Ward with Donald Manley)