LANCASTER bouncer, rugby player, judo expert and first class beer drinker Charles Hill reckons 'being a bit handy' will serve him well in his future career... as a vicar! Charles wants to work as a priest on a tough estate, in a prison or as an army chaplain. But spend any amount of time with him and it's obvious he enjoys nothing better than a laugh, be it in the ranks at the TA "the lads already call me padre," down at the Vale of Lune rugby club or with his fellow students at Lancaster University.

And it's just as well that he prefers joking to fighting when you size up the full, impressive physique of this bouncer and Charles reckons that his imposing figure as much as his ability to have fun will aid him in his vocation.

"I'd like to work somewhere of real use, I wouldn't really like to be into a prim and proper parish," he says.

Already this 20-year-old is becoming used to justifying the strong commitment to serving God. He finds some of his contemporaries just can't comprehend his calling to the cloth.

"The TA lads are all right, they don't give me any hassle about it, although you do have to hold your own a bit in the services.

"Really though I get more funny looks at the university where I study philosophy and religion than at the TA or down at the Vale but I do find I have to come up with arguments at university. It's not like they're nasty or anything it's just that they have intellectual arguments about being a vicar and believing in God.

"Then again we have arguments about all sorts in philosophy, you end up thinking 'Am I really here?' I just tell them: 'I'm really here, even if you're not!'"

Charles has chosen to follow his calling as a vicar in the Church of England even though both his parents are converts to Catholicism. "It's the celibacy I couldn't stand," he jokes, "and I don't think my girlfriend would be too keen on it either!"

Yet for all his joking around Charles realises that he doesn't match up to the standard image of a vicar and that could cause him problems.

But, as he says: "They accused Jesus of being a glutton and a friend of publicans so why can't I be?"

A friend of publicans he may be, but whoever finds themselves with Charles as their vicar in a few years can be sure they'll have laughs and good times to go with their spiritual guidance.

In the meantime any ne'er-do-wells who think they can cause trouble at the Alex pub can be assured that they will be thrown out of the pub with compassion, if not tenderness!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.