Last updated 17:24, Thursday, 28 August 2008

CLERGYMEN are often noted for their modesty and kind-heartedness, but none more so than Bardon Mill’s Canon Stanley Prins.

Expanded hobby: Canon Stanley Prins with one of his pastel drawings.

Celebrating 50 years in ministerial service in April, Canon Prins (78) deflects the praise for his dedication to the Church away from himself.

Instead, he concentrates on the role of parishioners and how they are the life and soul of any church, and not the clergy.

He believes that his long stint in his profession would never had lasted if it was not for the spirit of the parishioners.

He said: “It has been very varied, very rewarding and enriching. It is not all plain sailing; it is not easy and if it was not for the ministry of other people it would not happen at all.

“The thing I have learned most from the ministry, particularly from being retired for these past 12 years, is what a huge amount the Church owes to the people in the parishes who support and sustain the ministry.

“The clergymen would not last 50 days without the ministry of other people. They are the supporters that enable the clergymen to run the Church.”

Born in Calcutta, India, where his father was a schoolteacher, his arrival in English life was delayed because of the Second World War.

His parents’ plans to send him to stay with relatives in Lincolnshire, so he could go to school, were put on hold for a few years.

Canon Prins explained: “I was to be sent to England, but then the war came. So I did not go as they did not want me to be one of those people from the Kipling books, where you didn’t see any of your parents for two or three years.”

The trip to Lincolnshire finally materialised. Then in 1951 that he came up to the North-East as a bright-eyed 21-year-old.

He studied biology at Kings College, Newcastle, and went on to spend two years commissioned in the Royal Signals, being stationed in Singapore and Malaya.

After this he spent two years at the theological college at Ripon Hall near Oxford, before he was ordained at Newcastle Cathedral in June 1958.

This started his long, deep involvement in the Church, which is still in effect now as he sometimes acts as a ‘relief’ to churches when called upon.

Starting out as an assistant curate in 1958 at St James’s Church, in Benwell, Mr Prins became a canon of Newcastle Cathedral after spending over two decades in the city.

From Benwell, he moved to be the chaplain at Newcastle University, and was based at St Thomas’s in the Haymarket.

A regenerative process occurred at his next church, which has left Canon Prins with a fund of memories.

He spent 11 years at the Church of the Holy Nativity on Chapel House Estate, West Denton, where he saw a church built from nothing rise before his eyes.

“There was an estate project to build a new church. When the church began in a room in the house that I lived in on the estate, it was bringing a lot of people together and we had a big congregation.

“The church began in the parsonage house and then we built a hall, then the church. There was a range of opportunities for both young and old people.”

Then a vacancy came up at Humshaugh and Canon Prins was sent on his travels by the bishop.

In 1975 Canon Prins, his wife Marion, and his three children, Lucinda, Kath-arine and Simon, settled in at the vicarage in Humshaugh.

The Prins family have not looked back since the day they arrived in Tynedale 33 years ago.

Canon Prins later combined his role as vicar of Humshaugh with the position of rector at Simonburn and Wark.

The rural community he has experienced at the churches in Tynedale has been nothing short of “wonderful”.

He explained: “The bishop said the country needs some work done and needs someone young because the vicar of Humshaugh had retired after being there for 32 years.

“He asked if I could go and see what I could do.

“I spent 21 years at Humshaugh. There was this quite wonderful rural ministry.

“On the surface it may look very quiet in rural churches, but there is a huge amount of activity.

“The Church in the countryside is alive and well and it is not because of the priest, but the ministry of all the people that keep the place running.”

In addition to his clerical roles, he has also been the rural dean of Bellingham and vice-chairman of the Northumberland branch of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, Forces Help.

He also spent 21 years as chaplain to the 101st Field Regiment Royal Artillery, based in Gosforth.

In addition to this, he has been a member of the North Tyne and Redesdale Choral Society, chairman of Wark and Humshaugh first schools’ boards of governors, and a member of Tynedale Scouts executive committee.

After his long affiliation with the Scouts, he has been saddened to see their numbers decrease over the years.

He said: “I am amazed by these voluntary organisations, and the amount of time people put into this is phenomenal. They are very dedicated people. They are definitely undervalued.

“They used to have big St George’s Day parades and filled Hexham Abbey, but you never see any of these things now.

“It is a great shame that they have gone to the fringe and are no longer prominent. I would like to see them back.”

Keen on history, the reformist period from the 15th to 16th century is a particular favourite of his.

One of his heroes is John Donne, who became Bishop of London in 1566 and believed that the Church should not only teach moral values but practise them.

But his biggest hero is the 16th century martyr Nicholas Ridley, who used to live in Willimontswick, Bardon Mill, and was burned at the stake in 1555 during the reign of Bloody Mary.

Canon Prins explained: “The young Nicholas, living over there, when the Border Reivers were rustling cows, was act-ually learning to read and write, which was a rare thing.

“His Uncle Robert was Rector of Simonburn.”

Since retiring in 1996, Canon Prins and his wife have settled into a bungalow at Scroggwood, Bardon Mill.

The couple enjoy gardening, but have kept the size of their patch realistic.

“I always think 10 years ahead, because in 10 years’ time how are you going to feel?

“It is all good having a big garden but will you be able to dig it up in 10 years’ time?”

Another favourite pastime is pastel painting, which he has developed over the last few years.

Always interested in drawing and painting, he has more time now to expand this hobby. He has drawn scores of pictures of parishes and landscapes.

All the money raised from their sale goes to help churches and community centres, for whom he has raised thousands of pounds from selling prints.

He said: “It is one of the things one can do because one has more time now than when one was doing a job.

“I enjoy doing it so much. I suppose it is sort of giving a little bit back.”

After spending so much time dedicated to his profession and helping others, Canon Prins is enjoying being “semi-retired”.