The Revd Dr Stephen W. Need writes:

I WRITE in gratitude for the life of Canon John Davies of Southampton (Gazette, 21 May). John headed the theology department at the University of Southampton in the 1980s and ’90s when I was teaching at Chichester Theological College and at LSU College, Southampton.

I will always remember and value his gentle but firm guidance and encouragement in teaching the New Testament. He was particularly in his element during meetings to prepare examination questions, and brought enormous clarity to the process of discerning what it was exactly we wanted to ask students to write about. John’s humour and warm pastoral care shone through his admirable scholarly pedantry.

Not so well known, probably, was his enthusiasm for railways. Waiting with him on the platform at Southampton station on one occasion, I discovered that he could identify most of the trains that passed through — including origins, destinations, and times. He seemed to know the timetable inside out. I am sure that all of us who knew John during those years will remember him with great admiration and affection. May he rest in peace.

Canon Dan O’Connor writes:

JENNY HUMPHREYS’s excellent obituary of Bishop John Osmers (Gazette, 23 July) refers to his birth in New Zealand in 1935. John was proud to be a descendant of Charles Freer Andrews, “Deenabandhu” to Gandhi and to the indentured labourers whose liberation he had fought for and won. Andrews’s younger sister, Margaret, and her husband, Jack, went to live in Christ Church, New Zealand, and John Osmers belonged to the second generation on. Andrews visited Maggie and family more than once — his work against indenture in Fiji, and a universities mission in Australia and New Zealand gave him opportunities for short visits.

I had just completed a first book on Andrews when John, on a visit to the UK, tracked us down in Edinburgh, around 1980. It was a great thrill to me to at last meet a relative of Andrews, and an honour to meet such a courageous champion of justice and freedom in South Africa. John was indeed a chip off the old block. May he rise in glory with his hand restored.

The Ven. Christine Allsopp writes:

I MET the Revd Jo Stevinson (Gazette, 25 June) only twice. The first time was when she and John made a return visit to Caversham, where I was curate. Jo was keen to have a woman lay hands on her when she was ordained priest. As I had been ordained priest in Reading the week before Jo’s ordination in Coventry, I was honoured to attend the service in Coventry Cathedral and to take part in her ordination.