A team of primary school children interviewed a former bank director and advisor to David Cameron for the job as a church’s new vicar.
The candidate, the Rev Hugh Thomas, succeeded in landing the job and was officially inducted as vicar at St Nicholas Church, Hurst on Sunday (March 23).
Welsh-born Mr Thomas, 67, a qualified barrister, said: “At St Nicholas Primary School I was cross examined by a team of the children as part of my interview process. I seem to have passed the test with them.”
Mr Thomas will in fact have two jobs – the church one being unpaid.
From Tuesday to Thursday he will work as a compliance officer for a real estate investment company in London’s West End. On Fridays to Sundays he will do his Hurst church work.
It’s thought to be about 60 years since Hurst has had its own vicar and was not sharing a vicar with another parish. “It’s a special moment in the recent history of Hurst,” said Mr Thomas.
“Hurst is a beautiful village and has a church with exceptional history going back to 1084.
“I’m excited and interested in the village’s many community groups along with St Nicholas Primary and Dolphin School.”
Mr Thomas invites anyone interested in joining the church choir to email him at hughstnicholas@gmail.com.
He and his wife Jennifer enjoy bellringing. The St Nicholas bells were rung for over two hours last Saturday (March 22) and also before Sunday’s induction service.
The new Bishop of Reading, the Rt Rev Mary Gregory, and the Archdeacon of Berkshire, the Venerable Stephen Pullin, officiated. Among over 100 people there were Deputy Lieutenant of Berkshire General Sir Redmond Watt and his wife Lady Suzy Watt.
“Like 3000 other priests in the Church of England (CofE) I am part-time and self-supporting,” added Mr Thomas. The church provides him with a house to live in.
Since he was ordained aged 46 his church work has been unpaid. He has worked in the City of London’s churches and at St Paul’s at Tottenham.
“At Tottenham the area was the poorest borough in the country. I had to deal with things like knife murders going on,” he said. He comes to Hurst from St Cuthbert’s in West Hampstead.
Mr Thomas’s legal work speciality is regulatory law in the UK and globally. He has worked for some of the world’s largest investment banks and was a director of Deutsche Bank.
He was the UK Conservative party’s head of compliance for two years including during the expenses scandal in parliament. He advised the Conservatives in the European parliament, ensuring transparency in expenses control and lobbying information. He worked closely with Conservative leader David Cameron when he was opposition leader.
Mr Thomas is now working on a PhD thesis about self-supporting priests in the CofE. He says having self-supporting priests running smaller parishes can enable more locally focussed priests, where otherwise a full-time priest would support a number of parishes.
