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I wasn't expecting tea, crumpets and a chat about wisteria, not in
Stokey, and that's certainly not what I got with Prebendary Allan G Scott, rector of St
Mary's Church for over 23 years. He's a complex man for a complex parish. Allan, 62, sat
opposite me in a large, sparsely furnished room in the vast rectory, fixed me with a
basilisk stare and challenged me to keep up with his views on God and N16. And off we went
at a brisk trot.
 'We have a congregation of over 200 adults regularly attending here,
including lots of kids. It's very mixed both racially and socially and the church is on
the up. I don't think that's necessarily to do with the area, more a fact that church
attendance nationwide is rising', he says, 'but there is a lot going on at St Mary's.'
Never a slothful day, by the sounds of it. Everything from discussion groups, Sunday
schools, bereavement counselling, overseas working parties, weekend retreats, social
evenings and the odd spot of hymn singing stapling it all together.
Allan's very keen on the fact that 'the barrister and the little old lady work side by
side' and, far from holding out the begging bowl, St Mary's is also in the enviable
position of cash to spare for charitable causes. Not for Allan Scott the sleepy backwaters
of C of E suburbia and the excitement of a WI beetle drive. 'N16 is a wonderful place to
work. You've got access to so much drive, energy and interesting people. I've always been
in the inner city. Wouldn't want to be anywhere else', he says with obvious relish. But
Stokey does have its little problems, no? 'Of course, and I'm sure I get a higher number
of disturbed people knocking on the door, for instance', he concedes, 'but we never give
out money these days. We help where we can but sometimes you have to accept that there is
relatively little you can personally do.'
St Mary's is a curious theological hybrid. Despite its Right On location this is no Happy
Clappy evangelical enclave or a place for namby pamby agnostics who like a good tune. He
shudders at the thought. 'We are traditional where doctrine is concerned but we are
radical socially and politically. The word of God is all-powerful here but we consider
ourselves on a journey together with it', he says. All this is rattled out by an
intelligent man in an obviously sincere, if forthright way, with the occasional 'Well,
what exactly do you mean?' as in 'can you keep up with the mental gymnastics?' I did my
not-so-humble best.Once you do, Allan Scott takes a pace back. I suggest he's not a man
who suffers fools gladly to be frank, he borders on the occasionally tetchy which
could be a handicap in his profession? A cautious smile dusts his wary face. 'It has been
said before. I'm sure some of the parishioners might agree with you', he says.
 It
comes as no surprise to learn that St Mary's has flirted with the controversial Alpha
Course, where therapy and religious conversation meet with a great deal of literal soul
searching and a hot meal thrown in. I got the impression he wasn't that keen. 'We've done
it once here because members of the church think it's an interesting experiment', he says.
'I can't say it's produced new regular attendees but we are considering having another
one.' I suspect he dislikes Alpha's jazzy, thunderclap style of instant belief. Allan's
own ongoing relationship with God 'we all struggle to live up to it' is a much
quieter, long term affair honed on working class Tyneside, where his father worked in the
shipyards and 'I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a priest'.
As he talks I can hear a highly developed sense of conscience rattling constantly in the
background. But your upbringing isn't the classic soil for growing C of E rectors? His
defences go swooshing up and we're swiftly back to the present day and his 'absolutely
magic congregation here'. He's now at an age where he's pondering where his final roots
will be. 'I've got to retire at some time, of course, but I'm not looking forward to it',
he says. His personal life felt seriously off limits apart from the information that he's
separated with two twenty-something daughters, one a high powered civil servant, the other
an actress. He certainly doesn't envisage ever leaving the inner city.
In many ways Allan G. Scott is precisely the right man to act as God's rep in Stokey. And
he assures me there's plenty of pew space going. 'There's even one with your name on it
Sue', he says. 'Oh, I don't know Allan', I say, 'I have this little problem with God.'
'Let's hope he doesn't have a little problem with you then', says the rector. He shoots
them back, does our Allan.
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