Rev. Andrew O’brien

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Rev. Andrew O’brien

I interviewed Andrew and his delightful wife Joanne in the study at the Vicarage, surrounded by the clutter, vestments and paperwork that goes with being a modern vicar. Two large armchairs must often have provided comfort for grieving relatives, newly engaged couples and confirmation candidates alike. Andrew O’Brien was born in the early sixties in Catford, London. He was the youngest in a family of four, with two older brothers and a sister. His father was a Chartered Surveyor – Director of Housing for the London Borough of Southwark and his mother a teacher. The young Andrew went to school in Bromley but didn’t particularly like school or shine at academic subjects. He was not a great sportsman either, but really enjoyed (as he still does) watching football and was an enthusiastic supporter of Charlton Athletic F.C. His parents were churchgoers and he sang in the choir with his two older brothers and right from being a young boy he felt that his future lay in the church. A true calling, in fact.

In the seventies the Church preferred young applicants not to go straight to university but to get some experience in life first, so young Andrew enrolled at the South East London College for a two and a half year Hotel and Catering course which gave him a real interest in the preparation and presentation of food. He even worked for a while in the kitchens at Simpsons in the Strand. He is a good cook and still does most of the cooking in the vicarage, planning the menus and shopping for the ingredients, whilst Joanne acts as sous-chef. I understand that he is a whizz at casseroles. When he left College, he went to Northern Israel for a year to work on a Kibbutz and spent most of his time milking cows. He travelled as part of a Christian Group some of whom were quite extreme but living and working with such a disparate set of people only served to solidify his own views and beliefs. He picked up enough Hebrew to enhance his Biblical readings but English was the common tongue. He had the opportunity to travel round the country and found the year extremely powerful and rewarding.

Back in England he went before a selection committee for the Church of England and then took a two year non-residential course at the Aston Training Scheme. This was rather like the Open University with the occasional residential course – at the same time Andrew was working front of house at a hotel in Bromley. At about this time he also found himself for a spell in New York helping emotionally disturbed teenagers, an experience which has stood him in good stead and also left an affection for the States – although only as a holiday destination, he hastened to add.

At the end of this time he went to Lincoln Theological College for three years and whilst there he also did a degree at Nottingham University. It was while studying in Lincoln that he met Joanne, a local girl from a Lincolnshire village who was the Secretary and Academic Registrar at the College. Joanne had a degree from Trent University in History, English, Behaviour and Belief.

He was ordained in St Edmundsbury Cathedral in l987, a very moving occasion for him and his family and he and Joanne married the following year. Whilst at college students are pointed in the direction of various career opportunities and jobs are also listed in the Church Times. Andrew became the curate in the Stour Valley Group of churches, encompassing Clare, Cavendish, Stoke by Clare, Poslingford and Wixoe! Five parishes to keep him busy. The diocese bought them a house in Clare (it cost £89,000 !) and whilst Andrew got down to learning how the parishes worked, Joanne worked at a bookshop in Clare. They remained there from June 1988 to May 1991 when they moved to Belton.

Here Andrew became Vicar of his own parish with a twelfth century church and all the problems that go with a mediaeval building – plus ca change ! The choice of Belton (between Doncaster & Scunthorpe) was partly because Joanne’s mother was ill and it was closer to her home for visiting. I asked him if anything funny happened to him whilst he was at Belton and he answered well, the children were both born there! I don’t know that Joanne thought that was ‘funny’ but certainly Thomas was born in 1992 and Rebecca followed in 1994.

One night they awoke at about 1 a.m. to find something flying round the room. On putting on the light they were alarmed to find the room was full of bats! They quickly moved out, closing the door behind them and settled down in the spare bedroom – only to discover an hour later that there were bats in there as well! The next day they took advice from a conservation officer and were told to leave the windows open at twilight which they did, and the bats disappeared but net curtains seemed a good idea after that experience! After 6 years in Belton, when Thomas had been at school for a year it seemed a good time to make a move and they started to look for a new living. They were on their way back from visiting a church down south when they decided to take a sneaky

look at Melbourn, which was also on the list. They found Bruce Hicks at the vicarage (the office was being used for parish work during the interregnum) and he showed them round. Well, they obviously liked what they saw because the young family arrived here in 1997. Apparently he could stay here until retirement age as nobody can remove him from the living, not even the Bishop! (this was the trouble recently in the Trumpington case).

Joanne leads a busy life as a traditional vicar’s wife – always on call to the insistent ring of the telephone or doorbell. I asked if it was still the custom for travellers to come to the vicarage for food and it seems that it does still happen. Only a couple of weeks ago a Rastafarian type turned up at the door asking for a drink. Andrew was going to give him water, but the young man asked if he could have elderflower. We don’t have elderflower, said Andrew. Well then, I’d like apple juice. No, I don ‘t have that either, it will have to be orange! And as Andrew disappeared towards the kitchen, the caller yelled down the hall – I like it quite strong!

Another visitor asked for a sandwich, but specified that it must be brown bread – and he then asked if he could sleep in the church porch, or the hall. Our lovely new hall must have seemed quite a haven

And the new Community Hall, of course, is Andrew’s legacy to the village and the way in which he drove through the building work will long be remembered. He has a most persuasive way of getting people to donate money or indeed other fixtures and fittings. The old, disreputable church hall which was really a run down prefab was demolished in September 2006 and work began on the Community Hall which now serves the whole of Melbourn. Now 18 months old, it is being used for a great variety of functions from funeral wakes to childrens’ parties, gold valuations to business seminars, with yoga and painting, Guides and Brownies, gardening and craft groups in between. Andrew wrought miracles in persuading people to part with their money, organising fundraisers such as a dinner/ auction at the Pink Geranium. TTP and Daphne Black were at the forefront in donating to the hall and Dr. Gerald Avison and Daphne were given the honour of opening the hall in June 2008.

One day after church Joanne happened to see Rebecca Gatward showing someone how to do embossing, and she became hooked on crafting. She owns an impressive collection of scrapbooking and craft gear much of it bought on their holidays in America. Throughout the year she hosts a craft workshop which makes charming and attractive items for the All Saints Bazaar and for the Meldreth Holy Trinity Christmas Tree Festival. There are usually about 10 to 15 of us sitting round the table cutting and stamping and painting, with Joanne gently guiding the proceedings.

Andrew also works in Cambridge as a Police Chaplain – he goes out on a night shift once a week, his role being to support the police rather than the villains! And of course there are home and hospital visits taking communion to the sick and housebound, dealing with young couples wishing to get married in church (he said he has never yet had a bride left at the altar) and children taking confirmation classes. A gregarious man, he works well with the Baptist and UR churches in the village and all three members of the clergy take part in the Remembrance Day ceremony at The Cross.

There is little time for hobbies, Andrew enjoys his work so much and a vicar, it seems, is never considered to be ‘off duty’ although he does try to make Monday his day off, if a funeral or Lent Lunch doesn’t get in the way. And his cooking of course must take up some time. Gardening is a bit of a no-no, most vicarages have huge gardens which Andrew finds somewhat daunting but he still enjoys watching sport and the family as a whole have been much concerned this year in inspecting Universities for Thomas, who hopes to read Maths. Thomas is a server in All Saints and is fairly laid back about having a vicar for a father, but Rebecca is somewhat more reticent and keeps her father’s profession under wraps unless asked directly!

Another of Andrew’s duties is to prepare a weekly sermon, which is mostly related to the proscribed Bible reading for that day although he could preach on any subject he likes. Of course, he is fortunate to have Mary Price, Barbara McKellar, Alan Hay, Pat Smith and Marian Long to share the burden of preaching as well. Andrew does a school assembly along with the other two ministers and considers it very important to get the Christian message across to children. Sunday School is held once a month but although there are several young families who attend he realises that there are many demands on children and their parents at the weekends. Andrew, as a young father, is very good with children and it is lovely to see the way the small children react to him in church – they are always welcome and obviously feel at home there. A far cry from my young days in church!

Andrew’s brothers live in Edinburgh and Devon and his sister lives in Ashford whilst Joanne’s two brothers live in Lincoln still – so it is quite difficult to keep up with the family, although his mother has come to live in Melbourn so they are able to see quite a bit of her. The latest addition to the family is an adorable wire haired miniature dachshund called Tilly and Andrew is quite obviously besotted with her. He brought her into church just before Christmas wrapped in a blanket to show her off when we were doing the flowers and now she is old enough to go out on a lead you will no doubt see one or other of the family exercising the dog. She is a great time-waster!

Of course, as a member of All Saints congregation I confess I am biased, but I think that the arrival of the O’Brien family in Melbourn was one of the best things that has happened in my 46 years in the village. He is so relaxed and unstuffy and yet brings a dignity and sincerity to his work in the church. He is a really modern vicar who understands how the world runs and although we commiserated over the state of the nation and the doom and gloom around us, he is basically optimistic. Like many of us, he thinks that the media do not help by concentrating the scandals and bad things that happen but if we all were to concentrate on following Christian principles of good neighbourliness the world would be a better place for us all.

I hope they will stay with us for many more years to come. Mavis Howard