Donald 'Don' Edgar Beckley

Yep I think your right, id just gone by the article by HCA (I assume Anstey) in number 25.

Don Beckley (Donald Edgar Beckley, 1914 -1997) was my father. He was born and raised in St Albans, Hertfordshire where his family were in fellowship with the Lowe-Kelly meetings. In 1946, after demobilisation from the NCC, he and my mother, (also from an L-K family), moved to Freshwater, Isle of Wight, where they continued to fellowship with the L-K brethren there, and it was during this period that he published the 'Choice Gleanings' pamphlets some of which have been reproduced here. He also wrote a number of hymns during the 1940s, but these were only published privately after his death. In 1955, my father was amongst those who were involved in the withdrawal of 10 Lowe - Kelly meetings (two in Scotland, and the remainder in England). The withdrawal was prompted by concerns regarding reunions involving L-K brethren with other brethren groups, and is described in Roger Shuff's book, published in 2005, 'Searching for the True Church', pp.108-111. I also have a pamphlet entitled 'A Statement concerning the Withdrawal of 1955,' written and published privately by Robert Bennie of Scotstoun, Glasgow, one of the leading brothers in the withdrawal, which gives a contemporary explanation of events leading up to 1955. Partly as a result of this, which caused the L-K meeting in Freshwater to divide, my parents moved to the other end of the Isle of Wight and settled at Seaview, where my father established the Seaview Pottery, which has already been referred to here. An assembly was established nearby, in Ryde, attended by ourselves and others who had withdrawn in 1955, and this continued until 1971. During this period it maintained fellowship with the other meetings which had withdrawn, the nearest being at Southampton, and these assemblies continued to maintain their identity as essentially Lowe-Kelly brethren. In 1971 my father left the L-K meetings and joined the Open Brethren assembly at Bethany Hall, Newport, IW, where he served as an elder He retired from his work as a studio potter in 1981, and was asked to take over the pastorate of a non-denominational chapel in Seaview, which he accepted and under his guidance this chapel became affiliated to the the FIEC network of churches. He eventually retired from this role in 1990 and passed away in 1997.

Thanks, Susan, for your interesting account of your father. I reckon, then, that you would have known Tim Biddlecombe whom I knew from Maidstone, Kent, in the 1980s.

Thanks Nick. Yes, Tim Biddlecombe is my cousin, (our mothers were sisters), and he still lives in Kent.