TEKELS PARK, CAMBERLEY, SURREY, ENGLAND GU15-2LF

TEKELS PARK & IT’S

FOR SALE

 

Spiritual Home

 

Sanctuary for Wildlife

 

St Francis Consecrated 

Church Building

 

 

YES

 

TEKELS PARK

Camberley, Surrey, England, GU15 – 2LF

is being sold

to a developer

 

 

________________

 

Haven’t heard ?

 

That seems to be the idea

& you’ll be lucky to find anyone involved in the sale who’ll talk about it.

In fact, try finding someone involved in the sale.

 

 

 

It looks like a case of

Quick!

Quick!

Sell Tekels Park

before anyone has a chance to argue,

come up with alternatives or,

in some cases, even hear about it.

 

 

The decision to sell is reportedly

based on dire figures

 

Who’s seen them ?

 

Tekels Park advertises itself as a Spiritual Retreat and

a wildlife sanctuary but, although kept quiet, news of

the sale to a developer is leaking out and has prompted

many to raise serious concerns about the fate of the

Tekels Park Deer and other wildlife.

 

Tekels Park

 

 

Tekels Park is a 50 acre woodland estate near Camberley, Surrey, England, It is owned by the Theosophical Society (Adyar) in England and has been a Spiritual Centre since 1929. The sale to a developer is surrounded by secrecy but news is now leaking out and many are unhappy.

 

 

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What Could This Mean ?

 

A Deer in the Snow

 

Concerns are being raised about the fate of the deer and other wildlife as Tekels Park in Camberley, Surrey is being sold to a developer.

 

 

Tekels Park is sanctuary for animal wildlife including deer, foxes, squirrels, badgers, bats, newts and stoats, and for birdlife including sparrowhawks, woodpeckers, tawny owls and many more. There are many species of trees including 3 types of redwood, ginkgo, eucalyptus, red oak, tall magnolias and lebanese cedars.

 

 

 

The effect on the wildlife will be devastating and of particular concern is the fate of the deer. Although afforded protection from cruelty under UK Law, they are not a protected species and could be slaughtered.

 

 

Part of Tekels Park is designated as a ‘Site of Nature Conservation Interest’ (SNCI). Unfortunately this designation carries no statutory protection.

 

 

Badgers have been residents of

Tekels Park for Centuries

 

Badger setts are protected by law but there is concern that development will destroy the badgers’ foraging area, on which they depend.

 

 

 

The Tekels Park Badger Website

 

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Anger & Dismay

Now that the decision to sell

Tekels Park is becoming known

 

It doesn’t require a Diploma in Finance or even

a Diploma in Anything to know that this is a

bad time economically to sell Tekels Park

 

 

There is widespread anger and dismay at decision to sell Tekels Park to a developer. The Theosophical movement is shocked to hear the news and many of the English Society’s 200 members had no idea this was happening as the leadership made no official announcement at the time the decision was taken. A brief reference was made on page 21 of the last issue of the now defunct Insight Magazine in February 2010 but this does not mention that the sale is to a developer.

 

This quotation gives some idea of the importance of Tekels Park to the Theosophical Movement.

“I know many people in the TS (Theosophical Society) and Theosophical Movement think of Tekels Park as their spiritual home. Long may we retain this wonderful heritage for the Theosophical Movement”

Theosophical Society in England member for over 40 years, Margaret Stagg, writing in Insight Magazine in 2004. (Insight Magazine Winter 2004) Margaret was also Senior Knight of the International Order of the Round Table, which has organised annual camps at Tekels Park for young people every year since the early 1950s.

 

 

After some uncertainty, the 2010 Tekels Park camp is due to go ahead even though the young people attending will certainly be aware of the fate of the park and the inevitable impact on the wildlife. Any agreement regarding the future use of Tekels Park will be difficult to enforce.

 

 

Tekels Park was purchased for the Theosophical Society in England in 1929. It has been the home of many Theosophical Groups including Camberley Lodge of the Theosophical Society, the Theoversity, the Theosophical Society’s Esoteric Section, the Retreat Society and the Liberal Catholic Church. Some Spiritual Groups have had a long association with both the Theosophical Society and Tekels Park and feel badly let down.

 

Although the Tekels Park Guest House is still being used for Theosophical Society events, many now feel unable to stay there, knowing what may now happen to the park and the wildlife. No mention is made of the sale on the Tekels Park Guest House website and many may still arrive there oblivious to the situation.

 

 

Theosophy talks of a compassionate attitude

to animals and the sale of a sanctuary for

wildlife to a developer has caused serious

division in the Theosophical Society in England

 

Madeleine Leslie-Smith, a long-term resident of Tekels Park wrote 'A personal recollection' in 1996. She commented: Tekels Park is in reality a mini Nature reserve ... It is up to us to preserve it from encroachment so that it may increasingly become a centre of Peace and dynamic spirituality”

 

 

 

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St Francis Church

Dedicated to St Francis of Assisi

Located on the Tekels Park Estate

Place of worship of the Liberal Catholic Church

 

Disquiet amongst Liberal Catholic Church

Members over loss of control of the building

 

Selling the Gift

 

The St Francis Church building was a gift from Liberal Catholic Church member, Josephine Chambres in 1931. The building was registered as a place of worship by the Liberal Catholic church the following year. The Tekels Park management are now claiming the right to sell a consecrated church building.

 

St Francis Church

 

St Francis Church was registered as a place of worship in 1931

by the Liberal Catholic Church

 

The St Francis Church Altar

 

There is disquiet amongst Liberal Catholic Church members that although St Francis Church may not face demolition, they will only be allowed to use the building courtesy of the new owner of Tekels Park and that the building may be made available to other groups.

 

Any agreement by the congregation to use the church, after it is sold, will be extremely difficult to enforce. In the event of any dispute the church would have the choice of engaging in costly and prolonged legal process or find a new church. The St Francis Church congregation could find themselves with no place to worship after nearly 70 years. The congregation thought that this was their church and many see the sale as an act of betrayal.

 

The Liberal Catholic Church was founded by a member of the Theosophical Society in 1915 and has remained an integral part of the Theosophical Movement.

 

 

 

St Francis of Assisi

Patron Saint of Animals and the Environment

 

St Francis of Assisi (1182 -1226)

Born in Assisi, Umbria, Italy.

St Francis is the Patron Saint of Animals and the

Environment. These must have been important

considerations in dedicating a church in his name

but the association appears now to be inconvenient

to the Tekels Park management.

 

 

 

The Liberal Catholic Church

 

The Liberal Catholic Church came into existence as the result of a complete re-organization in 1915-16 of the Old Catholic Church in Great Britain upon a more liberal basis. That Church derived its orders from the Old Catholic archiepiscopal see of Utrecht in Holland. It is neither Roman Catholic nor Protestant. It is called Liberal Catholic because its outlook is both liberal and Catholic. It aims at combining Catholic forms of worship, stately ritual, deep mysticism and witness to the reality of sacramental grace with the widest measure of intellectual liberty and respect for the individual conscience.
(From the Statement of Principles of The Liberal Catholic Church, eight edition, 1986)

 

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The Tekels Park Guest House

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Who’s Behind the Sale ?

(or who will admit to being behind the sale ?)

 

The whole deal is shrouded in so much secrecy that even the majority of the Theosophical Society’s actual card carrying members don’t appear to know what is happening but here are some contact points.

 

Tekels Park is owned by;

 

The Theosophical Society in England (Adyar)

50 Gloucester Place

London W1U-8EA

 

Tel 0207 563 9817

www.theosoc.org.uk

office@theosoc.org.uk

 

Please note that there is more than one Theosophical Society. Only the Theosophical Society with its headquarters at Gloucester Place, London is connected to Tekels Park. This is generally known as the Theosophical Society (Adyar) as its international headquarters are in Adyar, India.

 

The Theosophical Society administers the Tekels Park Estate through a limited company

 

The Tekels Park Estate Limited

4-6 Church Road, Burgess Hill,

West Sussex

RH15 9AE,

 

The Tekels Park Estate Limited received professional advice against selling Tekels Park but discounted this without reference to the Theosophical Society in England membership.

 

 

When one looks at how the sale of Tekels Park to a

 developer will affect the wildlife and St Francis

Church, it is easy to see why the Tekels Park

management have tried to keep it quiet.

 

 

____________________

 

From the Website Owner:- Dave Marsland

 

I am dedicated to the future of the Tekels Park animals and have created this website in support of saving them.

 

My main concern in posting information on this, and related websites, is to draw attention to the sale of the 50 acre sanctuary for wildlife to a property developer and the inevitable deaths of the animals by slaughter or habitat destruction.

 

The killing of the Tekels Park animals would be an obscenity and as a long standing student of Theosophy, I cannot turn a blind eye.

 

I maintain that the Tekels Park management and the Theosophical Society in England leadership have attempted to keep the fate of the Park and its wildlife from public attention and the attention of the Theosophical Society in England members.

 

Dave Marsland

 

You may contact me on davemarsland@aardvarktheosophy.co.uk

 

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The Toff’s Guide to Selling

Tekels Park to a Developer

 

Magnificent Tekels Park

 

St Francis Church

 

Concerns about Tekels Park Wildlife

 

Tekels Park & The Loch Ness Monster

 

Tekels Park For Sale

 

Party On! Tekels Park NOT! 

 

The Tekels Park Minstrel

 

Future of Tekels Park Badgers in Doubt

 

Tekels Park Badgers

Once Highly Valued by the

Theosophical Society in England

 

Theosophy Tekels Park

Article describing Tekels Park and its much

cherished wildlife by Theosophist and long

term Tekels Park Resident Madeleine Leslie Smith

 

The Theosophical Value of

Tekels Park

 

Theoversity Compromised by

Tekels Park Wildlife Issue

 

The Rejuvenation of

the Tekels Park Pond 1995

 

Hey Look!

Tekels Park is Being Sold to a Developer

 

White Flag Day

 

 

Tekels Park

Camberley, Surrey, England

GU15 – 2LF

Tekels Park Map

 

 

 

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TEKELS PARK, CAMBERLEY, SURREY, ENGLAND GU15-2LF