Woburn Sands

By 1985 Fr. Edmund (Ted) Golston had been parish priest at St. Mary's Woburn Sands for 46 years! It remains one of the mysteries of our religion how this could ever have happened. He went there as a young priest just four years after I was born and certainly it would have been cruel to have moved him after the first 25 or 30 years. He was happy, his parishioners were happy and somehow ( one theory is that he 'had something' on a succession of Bishops) he became an institution. For ten years or so his health had not been good and the time had come for him to feel that he should retire. At the celebration of his Golden Jubilee various priests concelebrating the Mass in the beautiful church and being feasted in the extensive grounds were casting envious eyes on the parish and, if clergy had been prone to gambling, a book would have been started as to who would inherit this 'plum' of a parish.

I did!

Through Providence, pure good luck, warped sense of humour by the Bishop (Bishop Francis Thomas by then) or for whatever reason a complete outsider who had never been considered a runner nor himself even thought of going there was made an offer he could not refuse. The Bishop said that in exchange for keeping on the schools and Education Committee would I like to go to Woburn Sands? Reminding him that, technically, I did not owe him any obedience because of the error made at my ordination, I nevertheless followed the pious practice of not arguing with bishops. The takeover date was set, by amicable negotiation, for the middle of October and since all the other moves ( one move in the Diocese having the domino effect of creating six or seven others) all took place some six weeks earlier, I became officially homeless - the Bedford presbytery and parish got its new incumbent while Fr. Golston was more than welcome to take his time, wind down, make his farewells to his many friends and gradually move into retirement to Ipswich, the place of his birth.