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

BAD NEWS FOR THE ANIMALS

TEKELS PARK

IS TO BE SOLD TO
A DEVELOPER

 

Tekels Park advertises itself as a Spiritual Retreat and

a wildlife sanctuary but news of the sale to a developer

has prompted many to raise serious concerns about the

fate of the Tekels Park Deer and other wildlife.

 

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 amongst the members who have actually found out about the sale.

 

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.

 

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. The Tekels Park Estate board received professional advice not to sell the Park but chose to ignore it.

 

 

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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 50 acres of Tekels Park is just about the minimum foraging area on which a colony of badgers can survive. The park is boxed by the built up Camberley area and the M3 motorway.

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Anger & Dismay

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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 Theosophical Society’s Esoteric Section, the Retreat Society, Co-Freemasory 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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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 ?

 

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,

 

It is reported on some newsboards that the Tekels Park Estate Limited hope to get £6Million for the Estate.

 

 

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.

 

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The Tekels Park Family Eviction

 

In an ominous new development, a family with

2 children still at school was evicted from their home

in Tekels Park in May 2013 because a Tekels Park

Estate Limited Director wanted their house for himself.

 

It is not known if further evictions are planned.

 

This issue is not for discussion by the

Theosophical Society in England leadership

 

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Magnificent Tekels Park

 

Future of Tekels Park Badgers Now in Doubt

 

St Francis Church

 

Concerns about Tekels Park Wildlife

 

Tekels Park & The Loch Ness Monster

 

Hey Look!

Tekels Park is Being Sold to a Developer

 

Tekels Park For Sale

 

The Toff’s Guide to Selling

Tekels Park to a Developer

 

Party On! Tekels Park NOT! 

 

The Tekels Park Minstrel

 

 

 

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