Taffy Davies, Wayfarer Fellow in 2023, writes about his experience spending a term at St John’s fifty years after he had first spent time in Durham during the 1970s.
The ‘Wayfarer’ scheme, which has been running for several years now, was established to encourage people who have worked in the arts (in the broadest sense of the word) to spend a term in the hallowed surrounds of Saint John’s College Durham and to enjoy the stimulating facilities of the university. A Wayfarer Fellow also has the opportunity to forge close links with members of Cranmer Hall as part of their tenure.
I simply could not believe my good fortune when I learned that I had been invited to become the Wayfarer Fellow for 2023. Angle Reith (the Fellow from 2022) was a dear friend of mine from my own college days and had spoken so warmly and well of her term in Durham that is seemed it was a golden opportunity to, at least, enquire about the possibilities. One thing led to another and, much to my surprise, the trustees very kindly offered me the 2023 Wayfarer Fellowship, after a delighted informal interview (in Durham), in the autumn of 2022.
I was thrilled to have been invited to join the college for a whole variety of reasons. Not the least being that I had been a student in Durham, for one year, exactly fifty years ago. I could not believe that I was returning to the beautiful city half a century after I had first stumbled across its wonderful charms.
Between 1972 and 1973 I was studying at the (now long-since closed) Bernard Gilpin Society. ‘BGS’, as it was known, was a very small college, affiliated to the university, which helped prepare would-be ordinands with the necessary skills required for academic study, if, like me, they had left school with very few ‘qualifications’. After my time in Durham, I moved on to read theology at St John’s College, Nottingham and, eventually, I was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1978. I retired from full-time ministry in 2015 having served in the diocese of Portsmouth, Bath & Wells and Chester (in that order). Alongside my conventional ministry, particularly during my time in The Chester Diocese, I also worked in a secular role as a filmmaker and animator. I have always had a passionate interest in the arts, and I have a particular enthusiasm for creating visual sequences which explore some of the fundamentals of the Christian faith.
Returning to Durham in 2023 I had the golden opportunity to revisit some of the works I had created in the 1970s and to begin adapting them for the internet age. I was also able to spend some time idly doodling in the cathedral and its environs (which I found very satisfying). And, finally, I had the time to pen a full-length stage play script, with the working title ‘Twains Meet’. The play itself explores some elements of the true-life story of Marianne Brocklehurst, a Victorian Egyptologist, who I am sure was the authentic female equivalent Indiana Jones. Whether the text will ever make it to the stage remains to be seen, but I have lodged it with the play selection committee at the local am-dram theatre of my hometown, Macclesfield.
As well as working on the above three projects it was quite simply a great joy just to spend time in the colleges of Durham. I genuinely felt very spoiled by the kindness and hospitality of the staff and students of St John’s. I thought the food was beyond fabulous, and it was a huge encouragement to meet with so many ‘young’ people who clearly have a passionate and genuine Christian faith which is driving and inspiring them. Without in any sense wanting to be morbid, I am aware that my own active ministry is, perhaps, drawing to its close, so it was very encouraging to meet such a swathe of faith-filled people who seem ready to take up the challenge of ministry from where I have, perhaps, left off.
I was also very touched by the very genuine cheerful kindnesses shown by the domestic staff, the clerical staff, the reception staff and the teaching staff of the college towards me during my time as a fellow. It is probably very wrong of me to single out any particular individual, but it was a great delight to meet Jolyon Mitchell, especially, who did so much to make me feel at home.
In some respects, if I am honest, returning to a Durham College made me feel very old. Surrounded, as I was, by so many bright, lovely, and kind young people. At the same time the sojourn has also rejuvenated me. I had time to think, reflect, read, walk, and pray. I loved the opportunity to rekindle my love affair with the cathedral. Nothing, to my mind, can compare with the sublime tranquillity of a choral evensong midst those grey towers of Durham…
It was an honour, a joy and delight to have been in have been in Durham as the Wayfarer Fellow for 2023. Hopefully the scheme will continue for many years to come, and if, perchance, the opportunity should come your way, one day, do grab it with both hands!
Taffy Davies – January 2024
John's Chronicle 