These are the miscellaneous writings of the Reverend W. John Green who was born at Stambermill, near Stourbridge in the English West Midlands, on April 15th, 1923.

The first half of his life was devoted to the gas industry. He studied engineering at Birmingham University during World War II, and after graduation, began a peripatetic lifestyle which took him to various gasworks scattered all over the United Kingdom.

He married Mavis, the daughter of a Police Superintendent, in 1947, and for a few years they travelled around the country as the demands of work required.

Eventually promotion brought stability, and  in 1950 they moved to the south-western suburbs of Glasgow where, in 1952 and 1955 their son and daughter were born.

In 1960 promotion triggered a move to south-east England when he became one of thousands of commuters making the daily train journey from a Kent village to an office in Central London. This new life style must have seemed frantic and claustrophobic after the freedom and open spaces of Scotland, and in 1962 he abandoned the 'rat race' in favour of Rochester Theological College.

He was ordained in Gloucester Cathedral in 1966, and was appointed curate in the Cotswold village of Minchinhampton. In 1968 he moved to Hardwicke, to the south of Gloucester, and in September 1970 he became Rector of Eastington near Stonehouse in Gloucestershire.

His first incumbency lasted 10 years, after which, in 1980 he was appointed to South Cerney, another Cotswold village near Cirencester. However the work-load at South Cerney (where he was responsible for two other churches at Down Ampney and Cerney Wick) was high, and in 1987 he suffered a heart-attack from which he made a good recovery. After this he moved to the small parish of Maisemore just outside Gloucester where in addition to parish work, he continued to make his engineering skills available to the diocese of Gloucester by giving advice on church heating systems.

He retired in 1990, moving with Mavis to the small village of Upavon, near Pewsey in Wiltshire., where he continued to make a significant contribution to the life of the Church of England in the Pewsey Vale.

Mavis died unexpectedly on November 13th 1997, after what everybody assumed was a fairly routine hospital operation, but John remained in Upavon where the self-sufficiency learned in military training during the war, and the support given by his daughter (who lived a few miles away) enabled him to carry on.

In February 2004 he suffered a major stroke, and his last days were spent in Salisbury District Hospital where he died on March 12th.

This web site presents a collection of his writings as a tribute to his multi-faceted personality. They are grouped under the loose headings of "humour", "memoirs",  "Poems", "Sermons", "Thoughts" and "Resources". From among these writings it is impossible to find a short phrase that 'sums up' the man, but his poem 'A Fishy Hereafter' was greatly appreciated when read out at his memorial service in Upavon Church.