24 Apr 2021
LIFE OF SERVICE: Fr Ian Grieves at St Osmund’s Catholic Church in Gainford
Father Ian Grieves is retiring as parish priest for Gainford and Barnard Castle. He will be remembered for switching from Anglicanism to Catholicism and taking nearly all of his congregation with him. Editor Trevor Brookes spoke to man who was once described by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby as a “quite exceptional priest”.
WHEN he was training to be a priest, Father Ian Grieves was told he needed to see “real life” before the church would let him go any further.
Its something that still rankles today. Being brought up in Trimdon Grange, he reckoned he had seen enough of life already.