Andrew Langley
A surf-loving father of three is on his way to Dartmouth to take up the position of curate
in the parish. Andrew Langley will be Father Will’s apprentice and will work at St Saviour’s, St Clement’s, St Petrox and St George’s in Dittisham.
He’s moving down from Oxford, but was brought up in Devon and told our reporter Steph Woolvin that he’s very much looking forward to returning home…
Father Will hasn’t had a sidekick for over a year now. His last protégée, Nick Debney, left in February 2017 and is now the vicar of St Luke The Evangelist Church at Milber, Newton Abbot. Curates usually stay at each posting for three or four years.
When they have learnt all they can they usually take up a more senior role elsewhere. Andrew Langley is next up and he is bringing his wife Gemma and his three children, Noah, who’s 10, Joshua, nine and Hannah, who is four, down this summer to move into their new house opposite St Clement’s Church. He said he applied for the role because he was brought up in Brixham and has always loved the West Country:
“I jumped at the opportunity when it was presented. My parents still live in Brixham, I went to school in the area and did my A levels at Dartington before moving to London to study at the Royal College of Music.” He then joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as a horn player but after ten years as an orchestral musician he had a sense he should do something different. Since the only other thing he could do, or was qualified to do, was surf and teach surfing that’s what he did!
“I used to have waist-length blonde dreadlocks and lived in all sorts of places until one day I found myself in Hawaii. There I was introduced to a missionary and as our friendship developed over the next few years so did this sense that I should change direction. I realised I was becoming increasingly drawn to full-time Christian ministry so when I got back to the UK I started studying theology. Mind you, that was years ago and I’ve only just finished all my exams!” His initial training was done at the Bible College of Wales whilst working in Burry Port Marina where he was the helmsman for the RNLI.
He finished his undergraduate studies at Cardiff University before moving to Oxford where he’s been doing doctoral study at the university and training for ministry at Wycliffe Hall. Andrew says he can’t wait to get started in his new role here in Dartmouth: “I’ve mainly spent the last few years studying in libraries so I’m really looking forward to being able to spend more time out and about meeting people rather than have my head in books!”
He has certainly been thrown in at the deep end. Starting his first job with not just one but four churches, but he says he’s ready for the challenge: “It will be good to get to know each of the congregations, although I expect dashing between them all on Sundays might take a bit of getting used to!”
The curate’s role is to assist the vicar in their role and to learn how to do it in the process. The real title of the post is ‘assistant curate’ with the vicar being the primary curate. Derived from a Latin word that means ‘to care’, a curate is a member of the clergy who cares for the well being of the people in the parish. Andrew is keen on being close to the water again.
Top on his ‘to do’ list is to discover what clotted cream tastes like with every flavour of ice cream at the Good Intent! But he’s also looking forward to trying the various water sports that are on offer in the area from stand up paddle boarding to sailing, and he wants to spend some time exploring the countryside with his family. But one of their first jobs will be putting their personal touches on the vicarage at the top of town, which is perfectly placed for getting to the various local schools for Noah, Joshua and Hannah.
First published By The Dart magazine July 2018