A tribute to Ian Atkinson

[Doctor Smellcroft]

…from one of his former pupils at Clifton Hall, just outside Edinburgh.

Ian Atkinson was an Assistant Chaplain at CH Horsham from 1970 to 1985.

https://www.facebook.com/DiscoverFreedo ... 4540557798

[Avon]

That’s a nice set of memories. I liked Atkinson - a thoroughly decent chap.

Sadly, for me he’s singular because he was the only one of the chaplaincy for some time who didn’t have jail-attracting tendencies.

[loringa]

That’s a nice set of memories. I liked Atkinson - a thoroughly decent chap.

Sadly, for me he’s singular because he was the only one of the chaplaincy for some time who didn’t have jail-attracting tendencies.

During the 70s the Chaplaincy included John Robson, Godfrey Hall as well as Ian Atkinson. They were all very different characters but I personally liked them all. Certainly none of these ended up either in prison or charged with any impropriety. Interestingly, this was a time when there was very little enforced religion; in the senior houses we had Compline on a Wednesday evening but otherwise mandatory worship, including Sunday Chapel, was the exception rather than the rule. It does seem that an increase in enforced religious observance seems to have been accompanied by increasingly inappropriate behaviour by some members of the Chaplaincy!

No surprise that the Church appears increasingly less relevant to more and more people.

[sejintenej]

It does seem that an increase in enforced religious observance seems to have been accompanied by increasingly inappropriate behaviour by some members of the Chaplaincy!

No surprise that the Church appears increasingly less relevant to more and more people.

I suspect that your first sentence above is somewhat simplistic. In my day daily chapel was compulsory as were evening prayers in house. Whilst I will not suggest that improper behaviour didn't exist (one boy tried it on with me and fled to save his bits from a foot) it seems to have been rare. I don't think either that religion in itself was the be all and end all. It was parental behaviour and control; behave or a very unpleasant "else".
As for a "bit of the other" a friend recounts how his father took him to learn from a "professional"; with that education he ended up a very responsible person. I reckon any nubile female was 100% safe in his company. Not quite something that CH publicly expounded but .........