Ken Wycherley served with UCCF from 1975 to 1989, first as a Travelling Secretary, then on the senior staff team.
In the early 1980s he played a strategic role in restructuring the student department to meet the needs of rapid growth in the tertiary sector. Ken’s clarity of thought was appreciated by staff and student leaders alike, as policies and guidance were formulated on a range of campus issues. He always retained a strong commitment to evangelism and mission.
Ken won a scholarship to Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, then read Chemistry at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, where he served as Vice-President of the OICCU. His PhD was gained at Bristol, in the cryogenics of glass. In 1968 he married Lin Knipe. After three years of teaching in Kumasi University, Ghana, Ken took up a Research Fellowship in 1972 at Sheffield. He then joined UCCF. He had two daughters, Amanda and Susanna, and five grandchildren.
High standards
Following his years at UCCF, Ken served from 1989 to 2003 as Development Director with Interserve, leading a small team to work with local churches across England and Wales. Their threefold aim was to bring before churches the spiritual needs of some of the world’s most hostile and needy countries, to help Interserve partners prepare for cross-cultural service, and to support them in re-entry into the UK. In this, as in everything, he set unfailingly high standards. While the discipline of his scientific study was always evident, he had a love of literature, of music (he played the violin) and of history; and, as befitted his roles, enjoyed reading theology and biography.
In 2003 Ken was invited to become CEO for Langham Partnership UK & Ireland. However within three months he suffered a series of strokes, rendering him severely disabled. He and Lin moved north to Lytham St Annes, to be near their daughter Amanda.
This brought Lin close to her Liverpool roots, but in 2009 she died suddenly and unexpectedly. In 2012 Ken married Jane Horner, a former UCCF colleague and family friend of 34 years. A year later, Ken and Jane received Ken’s diagnosis of inoperable kidney cancer. His steadfast trust in God did not go unnoticed by medical staff. Ken died at home with Jane on 10 December 2014.
