Fr. Anthony E. Sketch

Fr. Tony on the 40th annivesary of his
ordination in 2002, on the sanctuary of

Our Lady Star of the Sea, Lowestoft

On 10th October we said goodbye to Fr. Tony Sketch who had been our parish priest for nearly twenty years and who had, in his own words and after a long illness, 'gone home to God'. The formal occasion of his Requiem Mass was marked with a packed church of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Lowestoft, with over 30 of his fellow priests from all over East Anglia concelebrating and led, in the absence of a bishop since the death of our Bishop Michael last year, by our diocesan administrator Fr. David Bagstaff. This was followed by a private burial attended by his family at Kirkley Cemetary and a wake for everyone in the Stella Maris Hall, when memories of and anecdotes about him were swapped.

Fr. Tony came to Lowestoft in 1982 and soon became a popular figure having an impact on the town with his support for the ecumenical Christians Together movement and with his work in the chaplaincy at Blundeston Prison. His greatest impact however was amongst his parishioners with his humanity and his impish sense of humour. With many he soon came to be regarded as an extra member of the family, someone who would be invited to family celebrations as a matter of course and who would come and be a welcome guest. At times a deeply spiritual man he also had an appreciation of many of the fine arts, a love of music and of the culinary arts both as a consumer and as an experimental cook.

During his time in  Lowestoft his was the moving force for the renovation of the Presbytery, the remodelling and re-decorating of the Sanctuary at Our Lady's as well as the repair and restoration of its tower, and for the purchase of a new home for St. Nicholas Church to replace the 'temporary' one serving the parish in South Lowestoft.

We would lose him from the parish from time to time as he was also an international director of the shrine at Lourdes and his administrative duties took him away from us for short periods but his familiarity with Lourdes also meant that he led several parish pilgrimages there as well as to the Holy Land.

A serious road accident when he had been a young man took its toll on him in later years and from time to time he was dogged by ill-health. Ordained in 1962 he served as Parish Priest at Lowestoft from 1982 until 1998 when he continued as assistant for a while. After retiring to a flat overlooking the sea he was eventually unable to care for himself any longer and was admitted to a care home where he died peacefully on 26th September at the age of 75 years.

Fr Tony worked publicly for the material improvement of the fabric of the parish but, unseen by most, he also brought back to the Church many who had lapsed as well new members, through his quiet spiritual ministry. He was not a conventional Catholic priest but he was no fool either; he was his own man and not always entirely at peace with some of the church hierarchy. He was, however, a 'larger than life' character and it is sad to think that he is no longer with us in body but his sense of humour will be with us still and I am sure that we will continue to hear him chuckling over our shoulders at some of the absurdities of life.

Lowestoft ChurchFest

Now that the event has finished I have edited this post slightly to bring it up to date but an amazing couple of weeks has come to an end. In that time some 38 churches in the district from the Baptist, Bethel, Church of England, Community Church, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army, Seventh Day Adventist, Society of Friends, United Reformed traditions have together opened their doors, put on special events and invited everyone in.

As well as being an opportunity for those who don't attend any church to have a look inside somewhere they might have wondered about or for those who are lapsed churchgoers to renew their acquaintance, it is has been an opportunity for members of the different congregations to meet on each others ground and find out how similar we all are rather than how different! So soon after the event it is impossible to say how successful the 'back to church' final theme has been but time might tell. You can't drag people back to church but you can try and offer the opportunity to those who have an unfilled spiritual need in their lives.

We already have an excellent ecumenical tradition in Lowestoft with Christians Together. Some of us are also part of the Men's Christian Network which meets at 8.00am several times a year at a variety of venues to listen, after a full cooked English breakfast, to a guest speaker relating aspects of his work, life and/or experiences in relation to Christianity. I won't suggest that without the breakfast it is would be quite as popular but that at Pakefield Church Hall, the first event of the Fest, was very well attended to hear the speaker, the moving force behind the ChurchFest, Canon Ian Bentley.

Many of us also heard Ian speak at the dinner arranged by Our Lady Star of the Sea the following evening. A very full programme continued throughout the week and with church-sitting in my own church for two mornings I managed to visit only a few but they included a Yarmouth Brass concert at St. Mark's Oulton Broad, Spinners and Weavers at Our Lady Star of the Sea (as well as a visit to the top of the church tower), a vegetarian lunch at the Seventh Day Adventists, an attempt to 'Meet the New Minister' at the South Lowestoft Methodist Church (but I arrived just too late) and a presentation about the Eighth Air Force at St. Edmund's Church Hall, Kessingland by Bob Collis on behalf of Gisleham Holy Trinity - and there were another 43 events I didn't manage to visit in just the first week! The following week started with a Harvest Thanksgiving service at the United Reformed Church and has gone on in like manner to week one.

Many congratulations to Rev'd. Canon Ian Bentley for a remarkable achievement in bringing all the churches together, albeit very willingly, and to the churches themselves for the effort that went in to make the Lowestoft ChurchFest truly memorable.