Taken from the eulogy by Rev Terry Louden at Charles Sprinks’ funeral in St John the Evangelist church, Langrish.

I have known Charles for nearly thirty years, and I knew all about his favourite food and drink – liver and bacon, curry at The Paradise, red wine – a glass or maybe two, but I did not know until very recently that as a young man he was a keen and proficient amateur cyclist, as is clear from the photo on the Order of Service. He came 73rd in a national time trial in 1955. 73rd sounds down the list, but it was a national trial.

My own lasting image of Charles, and it is a shame that no photograph of this exists, is of him standing on a ladder cutting the outside and the top of the front hedge at Yew Tree Farmhouse as the trucks thundered by on the A272 just a few feet away from him. It was either courage, or a touch of foolhardiness. And that was just a few years ago.

Charles was born in Aldershot, the home of the British Army. His father was in the Army, and for Charles, loyalty to the armed forces of this country was an important part of his life. He was a teenager during the Second World War and observed lots of military comings and goings. He was telling me only recently that he was able to watch some famous English and Scottish footballers who had joined the Army when they turned out for Aldershot FC, Matt Busby and Frank Swift among them.

Charles left Farnborough Grammar School early at the age of 15, without qualifications, but he benefitted from a War Office Training Scheme, which took him in the direction of design and draughtsmanship. He helped plan military accommodation in Libya. He was called up for Service with the Royal Engineers, chopping down trees in the Harz Mountains in Germany. He retained an affection for the Royal Engineers – his last labrador was named Sapper. He attended night school in Farnham on his return from Germany. He was very determined in his choice of a career path, which eventually resulted in him establishing his own architectural company, Charles Sprinks and Associates. As churchwarden here for eighteen years, he had an interesting and sometimes robust relationship with church architects.

Charles was an outdoors person. His last months were difficult and frustrating – he hated being confined to the house, and even worse, to a chair. He enjoyed walking, especially with his dogs, and I am told that there were many, many dogs over the years, mainly flat-coated black labradors. He was a member of a shoot at Heyshott for a long time. He would walk in all weathers, sometimes to his cost, like when he fell in the snow and broke his hip just before Christmas some years ago now. I think that his vision of God was firmly based on what he saw and appreciated in creation all around him, especially looking from the top of his garden across to the hangars, glass in hand. His favourite colour was yellow, an outdoor colour, the colour of the sun.

Those who worship here regularly have great cause to be thankful for all that Charles, and Jane, have faithfully undertaken for this place of worship. Charles was a very practical, hands-on churchwarden. I spoke of his loyalty to the armed forces. Langrish has two First World War recipients of the Victoria Cross – Sergeant George Horlock and Admiral Robinson. There was no memorial here to Horlock, who won his VC on the Western Front, and who later died at sea, until with Charles’s inspiration and direction, a memorial plaque to George Horlock was placed on the west wall. Admiral Robinson, whose VC was awarded in the Dardanelles, and who was one of Charles’s predecessors as churchwarden, is buried in the lower churchyard and his grave was refurbished. Charles spent a lot of time creating and updating a churchyard map. Only Jane knows how many hours he spent down here doing odd jobs. The church was his ‘man shed’, though he did many odd jobs at home as well! He spent a lot of time pondering, sadly without lasting success, about how to install a loo in this building and to provide it with a safe car park.

Then there was the paper collection. Fifteen or twenty years ago there was money to be made in old newspapers. Charles spent hours and days trying to persuade councils, schools, supermarkets, pubs and anywhere else he could think of in this area and beyond to host paper bins for Langrish Church. It was a useful income stream for many years.

Such a task requires a certain doggedness and attention to detail. Charles was born under the sign of Taurus, the bull, and Taureans are known for being stubborn and pedantic. I can say this with confidence because I am a Taurean myself – our birthdays were four days apart. None of us are perfect, and we all make mistakes. Charles did have a stubborn side, a considerable attention to detail, he could be awkward, he could hold his own in an argument and he was not a sufferer of fools. But he had no side to him. You knew where you were with him. He was honest and straightforward. He was a friendly and welcoming face to newcomers to the village and to this congregation.

Jane Sprinks wishes to thank those who generously donated to the retiring collection, a total of £543 split equally between the Rosemary Foundation and Hounds for Heroes. It gives clear evidence of the esteem in which Charles was held.

You can hear Charles talk about his experiences locally during the Second World War in the recording on the East Meon History Society website, link below

Charles Springs | Oral Histories | East Meon History Archive