27 September 2024
Father Alex Summers. Priest in Charge at St-Peter-in-the-Forest Church, Walthamstow tells us about his journey to becoming a Royal Navy Chaplain.
"I thought about joining the Navy as a teenager. I had been a Sea Cadet and enjoyed being part of a larger naval family. I didn’t join up but the draw and calling to the sea, family, and all things maritime never really left me. Roll on 33 years! I have just successfully passed out – as a chaplain - from Royal Naval Reserve officer training at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. Those two and a half weeks down at Dartmouth (a demanding continuous assessment confirming the previous two years of military and maritime training) was just about the most challenging thing – mentally, emotionally, and physically – I’ve ever done. But it’s so good to have passed! I will now go on to do more maritime training and chaplaincy specific training before my initial sea time.
"I am a chaplain at HMS President, a large RNR unit near Tower Bridge in London (a building, not a ship – a so called ‘stone frigate’!). Naval chaplaincy has many pioneering aspects to it – a ministry within a uniformed, disciplined organisation, but without limits in terms of variety. No one week is the same as the other. It’s also a huge privilege to be ‘bish’ (the moniker for RN chaplains) to the people who, like me, have daytime jobs and volunteer for reserve service because they too are drawn to be part of a family which offers challenge and adventure. As a chaplain I do not hold rank (this is unique to the Royal Navy) – I take on the rank of whoever I talk to, from admirals to ratings! There’s something wonderfully incarnational about that and as a ‘friend and adviser to all’ chaplains are highly valued wherever they serve.
"My commitment to naval chaplaincy as a reservist varies but is generally one evening a week at my unit with sea time and training taking place throughout the year. This ministry compliments my role as a secondary school teacher and as a parish priest in Walthamstow. It’s wonderful being priest in charge of St Peter in the Forest (the fisherman story of our patron is not lost on me!), a parish well used to links with chaplaincy in one form or another. It just so happens that my curate, Fr Bernard Eaton, is also a chaplain – of Whipps Cross Hospital."
Rev’d Alex Summers RN
Essex and East London Chaplaincy Meeting - 18 February 2025
On 18 February 2025, the Diocese of Chelmsford will host a networking meeting for chaplains of all faiths and denominations in Essex and East London.
The meeting, which will take place between 9am and 1pm at Brentwood Preparatory School, Shenfield Rd, Shenfield, Brentwood CM15 8BD, will provide an opportunity to discuss how chaplains can network and support each other in the future.
