ABSTRACT
After the Second World War Cuddesdon re-established itself under its new Principal, Kenneth Riches, who had been working in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich as director of service ordinands. Perhaps rather ominously, he had received the invitation from Kenneth Kirk, Bishop of Oxford, to take on the post on D. Day, 1944.1 He was inducted as vicar on 3 February 1945, and after a few years his regime had grown distinctly more liberal than that of his earnest predecessor, Eric Graham. Graham was a relatively austere high churchman, much loved by many students, but not particularly at home as parson of a small Oxfordshire village. A man possessed of great pastoral gifts, Riches succeeded in rebuilding relations between village and college after the War: these had sunk to particularly low levels at the end of Graham’s time, principally because of the conversion of two members of the college staff to the Roman Catholic Church. Riches’ lighter touch, coupled with his love of gardening and his ability to organise a successful fruit and vegetable show, were much appreciated in the village and earned the college its reputation as something of a country club. One of his first acts on becoming vicar was to remove the hedges around the vicarage, giving a greater sense of unity between principal, college and village. He also re-introduced bell-ringing, and started a sports club as well as a youth club. A member of staff, Ted Shields, organised a successful gymkhana for a number of years, and his wife ran a women’s Fellowship. The college attracted high calibre students and many well-known names visited. For instance, in 1950 Michael Ramsey preached, and Harry Williams led the Good Friday three-hour devotion.
