Camden News: Father Robert Atwell

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Camden News - by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 8 May 2008

Father Robert with ‘goodbyes’ from St Paul’s pupils

Father Robert swaps one church for 106

A POPULAR parish priest from Primrose Hill has been appointed Bishop of Stockport.
Father Robert Atwell of St Mary of the Virgin Church said he was “flabbergasted” when he learned he had been offered the role.
“I looked at the envelope twice,” he said of the day he received the news. “I don’t know anyone in Cheshire at all and I wondered if they’d got the right person.”
His appointment as suffragan Bishop of Stockport in the Diocese of Chester was announced by the Queen last month.
Father Robert, 53, will hold his final service on Sunday and leaves his King Henry’s Road home the following day.
“It will be a huge wrench,” he admits. “The past nine and a half years have been some of the happiest of my life. It is one of the most wonderful churches and communities.”
During Father Robert’s time at St Mary’s he has seen his congregation swell three-fold to 160 adults and 75 children for Sunday services, but it is his work with young people he says he is most proud of.
Instead of being responsible for one church and one congregation, he will be bishop for 106 churches and 100 clergy, heading up the eastern stretch of Cheshire.
“I’m enormously excited by the challenge,” he said. “Although as a new bishop, I’ll have an invisible ‘L-plate’ on, which will stand for ‘learner’ but it will also mean ‘listening’. The last thing the people of Cheshire want is some smart alec from north London telling them how to run their lives – I’ll listen.”
Father Robert, who has been a priest for 30 years and vicar of Primrose Hill for 10, was shown how much he would be missed by his congregation yesterday (Wednesday). Youngsters from St Paul’s School in Elsworthy Road presented him with a collection of memories and poems and a cherry tree that he can plant in his new garden.
As part of his new role, he will visit a different church every Sunday, and plans to drop by Alderley Edge, home to many of Manchester United’s players.
Father Robert will be ordained by the Archbishop of York on June 24. His post will take immediate effect.

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