Pints and pews are good mix for books (From Malvern Gazette)

Pints and pews are good mix for books

8:20pm Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News By Freya Leng

YOU would think a pub and a church were worlds apart but according to a new book, wine isn’t the only thing they have in common.

Jolly Jaunts with the Parson & the Publican is a new book by two friends who have scoured the English countryside for refreshment for body and soul.

Their tales of pews and pints from around Worcestershire, Herefordshire and the Wye Valley are interspersed with idle thoughts and family recipes passed down from the parson’s grandmother.

Two decades ago, the Rev Ian Charlesworth met publican Richard Stockton in a village just outside Hay-on- Wye. “He was running a very successful hostelry where I was made rector,”

said Mr Charlesworth. “I thought it my pastoral duty to cross the threshold and quickly we discovered a mutual interest and have been friends ever since.”

The pals started to document their adventures about five years ago and have written more than 50 articles which have been published in county magazines every month for the last few years.

“We started writing when the publican retired and we had a few days out,” said Mr Charlesworth.

“I would show him around a church where we’d usually get cold and need to visit a local hostelry to warm up and mull over the day’s findings.

“Someone suggested we write our anecdotes down and they liked them.

Richard’s watercolours are a delightful addition to the writing.

“We have always enjoyed walking around churchyards pointing out ages of people who have died.”

The book includes tales from Malvern Priory and the Nag’s Head, and St Peter’s Church and the Old Bull, Inkberrow. But it was the Crown and Trumpet, Broadway, that the parson felt especially attached too.

“Broadway was a particular gem,” he said. “It was a proper pub where the locals from Broadway would all meet and have a drink.

“Worcestershire is just littered with these wonderful places.

“In all of the churches that we visited so much of the story of the village is continued within its walls.

“Pubs and churches are similar in many ways.

“He would have heard many confessions over the bar as I would have over a cup of tea.

“We felt the job of a publican and parson are very similar.”

Jolly Jaunts with the Parson & the Publican costs £10 and is available from Waterstones, Worcester and Ledbury Books and can be ordered from theparsonand thepublican.com.