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Fr Rob Wickham
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Priest to take on new inner-city challenge
A LEADING vicar has been cherry-picked to take the helm in one of London’s most deprived areas.
Father Rob Wickham, from St Mary’s church in Eversholt Street, Somers Town, says he was advised to apply for the job of rector of the parish of Hackney by some of London’s most senior church staff.
Fr Rob, 34, will become one of London’s youngest parish priests when he starts at St John’s Church of Hackney.
He said: “According to the Guardian and Channel 4 Hackney is ‘the worst place to live in Britain’. I love a challenge.”
Fr Rob, who is married with one son, can be credited with opening up St Mary’s.
“When I first arrived the door was locked apart from services. For the last three years I’ve had it open all the time,” he said, adding he has plans to make a similar impact at St John’s.
“It has spent the last year without any heating or lighting and is locked for all but three hours a week.” He was also the vicar asked by a grieving community to help them come to terms with the tragic murder of a mother and her six-year-old daughter two years ago. He lead a candle-lit vigil outside Nicole Batten and Ukleigha Batten-Froggat’s Ossulston Street home for some 200 mourners.
This week he said of the area: “It’s been a huge privilege to be a parish priest in a place like Somers Town.”
Fr Rob accepted that antisocial behaviour linked to youths and drink and drug addicts had caused problems for the community, but he said it was important to acknowledge this was the result of neglect.
“Mental health problems are the modern day slums,” he warned. “A big problem is depression and anxiety. It’s not surprising a lot of people turn to drink and drugs – there are a lot of people who feel like failures.”
He also set about defending youths from Somers Town, who “get quite a bad press”. He said: “How generations relate to each other is an issue, but young people in Somers Town get quite a bad press. Most of the young people I know are delightful.”
Fr Rob, who read geography at university and was a rowing champion during his schooldays, is looking forward to taking on Hackney. “From what I’ve seen it’s a place brimming with creativity. Okay, there’s a lot of issues in terms of guncrime but I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.”
During his time at St Mary’s he has also been one of seven churches in the borough to offer homeless people a night shelter and a hot meal – a service taken up by around 15 people for the last three years.
He was also responsible for setting up a toddlers group at his church, after seeing a group of mothers huddled by the gates of the nearby primary school. It is now used by more than 50 parents a week.
His successor is yet to be decided.
Fr Rob will hold his final service on Sunday February 18 at 11.
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