Curate and writer dies

The Rev Eric Ogden in 1976, the year he was ordained

Accountant helped clergy throughout the borough

THE Rev Eric Ogden, who had a 34-year association with St Anne’s Church, Lydgate, and visited almost every church in Oldham borough as a curate, has died.

A well-respected member of the local community, Mr Ogden was a quiet man who began to work for the church when he and his wife, Joan, moved to Grasscroft as newlyweds.

He was a reader for eight years, a member of the parochial church council and a church sidesman before he was ordained deacon at Manchester Cathedral in 1976.

Oldham’s first part-time curate, he assisted clergy throughout Saddleworth and visited virtually every church across the borough.

In 1983 he took temporary charge of St Hugh’s Church, Holts, for nine months.

Mr Ogden, an accountant at Manchester University, retired from his church duties in 2001.

He had a lifelong interest in the history of transport and wrote 14 books on the subject, including a definitive guide to the Metrolink system, copies of which were given to then-Prime Minister John Major and the Queen when she officially opened the tram network.

Mr Ogden was also the longest-serving associate member of Oldham NHS Trust, which he served for 21 years, and was the first non-employee of the trust to be awarded a long service badge.

Mr Ogden lived in Saddleworth, where he was with his family when he died on New Year’s Day. He leaves his wife and son, Noel.