New Isle of Wight priest will travel between parishes on Vespa

He’ll enjoy travelling between the churches and people’s homes on his Vespa scooter.

Fr Tony has just completed a two-year curacy, serving in St Catherine’s and Holy Trinity, Ventnor, and in Bonchurch.

He was keen to stay on the Isle of Wight after living there for 25 years, and these churches fitted in with his Anglo-Catholic tradition.

The parishes of St Saviour’s-on-the-Cliff, Shanklin; Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake; All Saints, Godshill; and St Alban’s, Ventnor, are all members of the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda.

He was part of the congregation at St Saviour’s, Shanklin, when he was selected for ordination.

He’d come from a non-religious family, but felt a calling from an early age to become a priest. Yet he was working as a gardener and felt his lack of education would hold him back.

Tony starting biking, got into drink and drugs and was even contemplating suicide at one point. He says it was a prayer to God that saved him.

“I had this strong desire to be a priest, but felt God wouldn’t want me as my education hadn’t been great,” he said.

“I’d roar up and down the country on my Vespa, and I got into drink and drugs. Things hit a low point when I disappeared with the intention of taking my own life."

His faith saved him. Tony met his wife Jules, and started attending his local church in Cheltenham.

The couple moved to the Island in 1999, and in 2004, Tony had an epiphany at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk.

“My wife had been on these pilgrimages, but it took me 20 years to actually get there,” said Tony.

“The vicar of St Saviour’s, the Rev John Howard Davies, organised a trip, and while I was there I had this real sense of calling."

Tony was ordained as deacon in 2021 and priest in 2022, and served his curacy under the Rev Hugh Wright, who has now retired.