Away with the Vicar

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Away with the Vicar

Category:	Biography
Author:	Margaret Walker
Publisher:	Upfront Publishing
Price:	£8.99
ISBN:	978-1844264-520
Pages:	148
Reviewed in issue:	9

This delightful romp around Great Britain in vans, cars, trains, Romany caravans and on canal boats, is written with an incredible sense of humour. ‘Poor as church mice’ and ‘holidaying on a very short shoe string’ are two clichés that spring to mind, when reading this autobiographical account by an intrepid woman willing to ‘whither thou goest, I will go’ (Bible. Ruth 1:16).

Being married to a train-spotting Vicar hardly sounds the most exciting way to spend a precious two weeks. ‘Getting away from it all’ during her early married life meant camping holidays.

Eventually children came along and the holiday adventures became more critical. A lost two year old on a railway track in Wales was found unhurt, then the dog went missing. Being a Girl Guide, going to Sunday School and the like are all remembered in this little paperback with its vibrant cover photograph.

Being the ‘Lady of the Vicarage’, discussing flower arranging, serving cucumber sandwiches and fancying that her husband might drop in, looking sleek and handsome in his black cassock, turns out to be just a dream. The Mothers’ Union, being dragged in to type the Parish magazine, choir practice, and testing Girl Guides for badges all formed part of the 24/7 life of a vicar’s wife, not to mention feeding and clothing a family on a pittance.

An enjoyable, light read, written with much love and affection for a life most extraordinary.

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