Retired Chaplain, Revd Phillip Owen, to ride 900 miles for charity at the age of 80!
Update 4 August - a message from Philip:
Greetings along the way: When my daughter and I rode the JOGLE (north to south) in 2010 we were being sponsored for ICS at that time and they arranged a number of tea / coffee events at ICS supporting churches along the route. We’d like to do the same this time around, so we have published the route and if any folk want to greet us along the way, and we would be happy to stop for a quick coffee. Prospective riders please get in touch with us via phone: 07512240498 (texts preferred as I'm hard of hearing)
The ride
Retired vicar and former Chaplain in the diocese, Revd Clifford Owen, will be setting out from Lands End on 20 August to cycle from Cornwall to Scotland.
It's his way of celebrating his 80th birthday and his 50th anniversary of ordination in September. Clifford has ridden the journey three times before: in 1995, 1998, and 2010 but has decided to give it one last try before he gets too old! He will be accompanied by his two daughters, Kathryn and Isobel, with whom he has already made several long distance journeys, such as the length of Ireland and from Santander, Spain to St. Malo in Brittany. A few years ago Isobel rode solo from Boston Massachusetts to Miami, a journey of 1,900 miles.
Clifford started long distance bike rides when he was 14 and has never got over the thrill of pedal power. He always tries to ride in support of a good cause and this time he will ride for his home church: All Saints Hartford www.allsaintshartford.org.uk (click on the home page for 'latest content' and Clifford's sponsor box will appear)
He will also be raising money for the Inter Continental Church Society (ICS) who the Diocese in Europe work closely with. They appointed him to be Chaplain at Holy Trinity Church, Corfu in 2002. From there he went on to Ostend and Bruges in 2008, before 'retiring' in 2012. Since retiring he has spent a full year back in the Diocese in Europe, doing locums at St. Luke's Fontainbleau, St. Michael's Paris, St. Marc's Grenoble and the Church of the Holy Ghost, Genova.
During his time in Corfu Clifford did a sponsored ride from Igoumenitsa to Athens for HTC, travelling via Lefkada, where there is a new congregation, Patras, and Corinth.
Clifford said that the thing he enjoyed most on the 'End to End' was the continously attractive and changing scenery over the length of Britain. 'I believe we still live on one of the most beautiful islands on the planet'. He hopes to give us a summary of how it all went in September...watch this space.
10 Churches, 3 Crises, 1 God - Book
Clifford has also written a book for those interested.
He enjoys watching The Vicar of Dibley and Father Ted. He has also in the past laughed at the sketches of The Dave Allen Show. But how far do TV sitcoms represent the realities of life as a vicar or priest?
In 10 Churches, 3 Crises, 1 God Clifford ‘tells it for real’. This is his story of 50 years from first call through to retirement and up to the present day. He had no blinding light revelations that called him to be a vicar. It was just a growing conviction as he got on with the business of training as an engineer in the Royal Navy. Eventually he had to test the call. And so we have in this account a fairly full sketch of half a century behind a dog collar. The three crises were significant. The first happened when his theological college nearly closed down after a dispute. The second happened in a Worcestershire parish when he thought about resigning after a dispute which went viral. The third crisis is of interest to all of us because we’re in it: Covid19.
The roots of this story lie in six happy years when he wrote a monthly Chaplain’s column in The Corfiot, the English language magazine in Corfu. This has set the target for the present book which is ‘beyond the church walls’. He hopes that many who don’t regularly go to a church service will find that vicars are human beings who laugh and cry; feel fulfilled and frustrated; sense achievement and get angry; but also testify to a faith that sees them through it all.
Enjoy the book!
‘Those who wonder what ministry is like would benefit from reading this beautiful and sometimes
poignant story’. Bishop Robert Innes
‘Those who have been in ministry for many years or just a few will also find a great deal to relate
to and will find themselves surprised, instructed, encouraged and uplifted’. Revd Dr Michael Volland, Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge
Available to order via Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats:
• ISBN: 9798590471034
• Amazon direct order link
