A SERVICE OF thanksgiving celebrating the life of Colin was held at St Andrew’s United Reformed Church, Reading on April 26, 2024.
Colin was born to Robert and Mabel Ferguson in Perthshire. After a troubled beginning, the family settled in Richmond, London, and Colin attended Tiffin Grammar School, Kingston upon Thames. National Service with the Royal Air Force followed. This was when at the suggestion of the RAF Padre and aged just 19, he first started preaching. The Padre said he had a ‘loud voice and a Bible’. He continued as a lay preacher well into his eighties, and had only recently retired.
After National Service, Colin worked for the Bank of England. In June 1960 he married Janet and they bought their first house in Battersea. In October 1964 he contracted TB, and nearly died. After a prolonged recovery, Colin felt he wanted to support others through a career change and applied to become a Probation Officer. In this role, he found himself in various parts of south London, and spent two and a half years in Holloway prison!
In 1979, Colin became a Senior Probation Officer and the family moved to Caversham. During this period, lay preaching became a greater feature of his church life. As a nationally accredited preacher, he preached widely across Berkshire and Oxfordshire. He was instrumental in forming a committee to keep the Church’s Annual Holiday Forum going when the United Reformed Church decided it was no longer viable. It’s still going strong today! By 1986, Colin had completed a master’s degree in criminology and learnt to drive!
Following early retirement in 1994, he spent twelve years as a Family Mediator with Berkshire Family Mediation service. Colin had a passion for creative writing, producing poetry, many hymns, short stories, and books. He was also heavily involved with various local organisations such as the Thames Valley Writers’ group and the Fir Tree Club. He was the Chairman of the Caversham Bridge paper for many years until the beginning of 2020. In recent years, he was a regular preacher in several local churches, including the Methodist churches.
Colin and Janet enjoyed the later period of their lives, with worldwide travel and the arrival of grandchildren. After 63 years of marriage, Colin’s final words in his book ‘Aunt Aggie and the Snowman’ are addressed to Janet, where he says, “No one could ever have had such a loving wife and mother to our children. I love her as much today as I did when we got married. Whatever I have been it is because Janet was with me all the way and I thank God for all of it.”
Colin is survived by Janet, his children Jill, Chris, David and Andrew, their spouses and six grandchildren.
