Old Heath St Barnabas Church vicar steps down after 20 years

St Barnabas Church, in Old Heath, Colchester, was only built in 1950 and in the words of its own vicar, looks from the outside “plain, rather like a factory”.

But stepping inside will stop you in your tracks.

It contains beautiful relics and treasures rescued from redundant churches.

St Barnabas Church Colchester Essex by Peter Stack

Much like the church, its vicar of 20 years, Father Richard Tillbrook, hides a lifetime of experiences behind an unassuming façade.

“This church has gradually been beautified,” he said.

“The woodwork was all part of the original church here. There is a lot of history in the church, apart from its own history.”

Father Richard came to Old Heath in 2003, hot on the heels of a 33-year career as a teacher in Loughton.

He retires at the age of 72, leaving behind a void which will be hard to fill.

He has been a “shepherd” to anyone who cared to step through the church’s doors.

“Regardless of what people think about religion, they need a shepherd,” he said.

“If you don’t want to call me a shepherd, they need a bloke who sort of appears to be in control of things to help and guide them.

“I am what they call ‘old fashioned’. I’m quite modern in my thoughts and my ideas and my relationships, but I believe a vicar is here to serve everyone in the community, regardless of whether they go to church.

“Once vicars go – as they are rapidly disappearing – there’ll be nowhere for anyone to go.

“People come to me for all sorts of reasons, not because they want necessarily prayer, but they want help.

“Or they want references, advice, they want their children Christened, they want to get married, organise a funeral.

“If you listen to the TV you think no-one is religious anymore in this country.

“In fact nearly everybody’s religious, they just don’t all go to church.”

Father Richard Tillbrook inside St Barnabas Church

During his time at St Barnabas, Father Richard has baptised 300 children, married 60 couples and conducted 1,400 funerals.

He has strived to make the church an “anchor” for the people of Old Heath.

The church has strong ties with the neighbouring primary school, where Father Richard was the chair of governors for 14 years.

He introduced annual summer fetes in Old Heath and regularly organised trips to the seaside for the schoolchildren.

For the less well-off families, he helped to fund adventure holidays for the youngsters.

“I never wanted them to know who provided for them, but I wanted it to happen”, he said.

“All these are community things which are not religious but which are important.

“Having a position helps, because people respond to somebody who has some sort of standing in society. I don’t mean that as saying I’m ‘the Lord of the manor’, but I am recognisable.

“I’m user-friendly and people come and see me to sit and talk about things. Any problem you can think of has come my way.”

Father Richard fell in love with Old Heath instantly upon his arrival, charmed by the “ordinary, working-class parish”.

“It suited me down to the ground,” he said.

“The fact I went to a grammar school was educated at university means I can mix with anybody. But if it’s convenient to have a slightly cockney accent I’ll have it.”

Born in the centre of London, “just across the bridge from Parliament”, Father Richard grew up in a “fairly poor” family, living in two rooms above a shop.

“It’s the old violin story,” he says.

“Mother struggling to provide – but we did all right.”

He grew up in Stepney, in London’s east end, before studying education and divinity at the University of St Mark and St John.

He began teaching at Davenant Foundation School, in Loughton, and remained there for 33 years.

“I’ve had one trauma in life, which was leaving my beloved school and coming here,” he said.

“Now I’ve got another trauma leaving my beloved parish.”

Father Richard was also a scout leader for 20 years, a magistrate on the Epping bench, a school governor and a member of the medical ethics committee at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow.

When he retires at the end of this month, he also steps down as chaplain to Essex Police, padre to 7 Para Royal Horse Artillery and the Royal Military Police and chairman of the Old Heath Community Hall and Charity Trust.

He plans to move to Sudbury, where he hopes to be able to take his first holiday in more than 50 years.

“I won’t be gardening, I won’t be playing golf,” he said.

“But I don’t think I will be idle, for a start I’m not stopping being a priest, I’m just retiring from having all the responsibilities of being a vicar.

“A man recently said to me: ‘I’ve been to the church several times to find you and you’re not there’.

“I said to him: ‘This is not Midsomer Murders, I don’t live under the altar in the church, with 1,000 candles alight.

"You can’t find me because I’m out and about visiting, doing funerals and going into the schools. I work from 8am until 10pm every day’.”

When Father Richard arrived in Old Heath, he immediately viewed the parish as a community with its own identity separate from wider Colchester.

“This is not a suburb of Colchester, this is a village in its own right which has grown,” he said.

“That’s why I had signs put up on the entrance to Old Heath.

“You’ll find it says welcome to Old Heath, whichever direction you come in.”

Now he leaves the area with a strong church and congregation.

St Barnabas, Old Heath, Colchester - East end by John Salmon

“We’re a traditional church, you won’t get any guitars and drums here, but it’s fun,” he said.

“We enjoy [services] and there is laughter and fun and banter.

“When It needs to be solemn it’s solemn. Last Sunday we had nearly 200 people here, I won’t say I get that every Sunday.

“That happens on Remembrance Sunday, it happens at Easter, it happens at Christmas, but I would say the average Sunday is about 60 at 10am. It goes up and down.

“There aren’t many churches that attract that many.

“People say: ‘Well, they come for a Christening, they come for confirmation, then you don’t see them again’. “I say: ‘Well yes, but the seeds are sown’.

“When they go and do what young people do – travel and go to university and all these things – when they come home, they want to come back to something they knew.

“In a world where so much is unsettled and uncomfortable, to me this provides an anchor which I think is important.

“I do love Old Heath and its people and I shall miss it very much.”