THE Venerable George Bernard Austin, a man raised and educated in Bury, retires as the Archdeacon of York this month at the end of a 40-year career.

Born locally in 1931, he recalled his young life here and said: "It was a typical mill town - most people worked there.

"My earliest memory is of the clip clop of clogs going past as hundreds of men passed our house on the way to work each day."

He went to St Chad's Church School and then to Bury High School. With great modesty he remembered: "I became school captain though I was not good at anything and worse at sport. I got six credits in school certificate but not enough passes at higher. I loved English. The teacher, Dippy Bryant, took us to see Wolfit in Lear at Manchester Opera. It was the start of a lifelong love affair with the theatre. Bobbie (his wife) and I go wherever we can and make our annual pilgrimage to Stratford."

Initially he had wanted to join the RAF aircrew but after a few months of national service his medical showed a spot on the lung. Tuberculosis was suspected and he was discharged.

He has been married to Bobbie for 37 years. They met at a Dunstable Priory Epiphany party.

Dennis King, a curate friend from a neighbouring parish, asked if he could bring "a beautiful blonde". He did. George was smitten and desperate to know if she was Dennis's girlfriend. She wasn't.

So he collected her from the school where she worked as a teacher, skipped evensong and met her three times in six days.

On the sixth day he proposed to Bobbie and they were married six months later.

In their retirement the couple will stay in Yorkshire, a place they both love.

Also on the menu are cooking and going to the theatre. He will also be finishing his novel, "set in 2026 in a church near you". He is also a great lover of classical music and has written a successful autobiography, "Journey to Faith."

Reflecting on his career he said: "The clergy are highly privileged in the task to which God has called them and we should never forget it. To share people's joys and sorrows, the high and the low points of their lives, the marriages, baptisms, and yes, the funerals, to share the faith with them, ministering God's word and sacraments - all this we should treasure with a humble gratitude that God could have given us no greater privilege."

And he added: "Those who view the priesthood as no more than just another job, with set working hours and a career structure to be climbed, have simply missed the point."

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