A PARISH priest who arrived in the Barnsley area just before the miners’ strike is retiring at the end of this month.
Fr Rodney Marshall, parish priest of St Helen’s Athersley and St John’s Carlton, will conduct his last service on Sunday.
He has been in Athersley for 20 years but arrived in the borough in 1982 at Goldthorpe, and before long found himself helping families in desperate need as the dark days of the strike gripped the community.
“It was a very difficult time for people, but it was a time when the community came together in a very real way,” he said.
“The church helped run a kitchen for struggling families, there were food vouchers for people.
“It was a turbulent time, but a very memorable time and I’d like to think we did what we could to help.”
Following the experience of the strike and the hardship that followed, Fr Marshall had a slight career change when he turned his attention to working with unemployed people help to get them back on their feet, which he did through the early 1990s.
But then 20 years ago he settled back into church life at Athersley.
“It’s been a wonderful time and I have enjoyed it very much,” he said. “I shall certainly miss the people.”
Fr Marshall, 71, originally from Manchester, trained as an electrical engineer, and was ordained aged 30 in 1976. He served churches in the Manchester area before moving to Goldthorpe.
His wife Marilyn died last year aged 64, and he has two sons and two grandchildren. In retirement he plans to stay in the area and will be moving to Pogmoor.
