When he was the curate of St Mary’s, Andover, Bryan said matins with the vicar each morning at 7.30, when, mysteriously, they and the vicar’s Alsatian were always joined by another dog, whose timing was impeccable, and who happily stayed for the entire service. The stranger made his own way safely home immediately afterwards having successfully negotiated a number of major road crossings en route.
These are two examples drawn from a great many real life anecdotes relating to animals and birds which have engaged Bryan’s interest throughout his life. They are set, in chronological order, within the framework of his work as an Anglican priest. More generally, the account touches upon the life of a parish priest in the course of a ministry which stretches over more than fifty years.
Bryan Apps read history at Lampeter and theology at Oxford before becoming ordained as a parish priest in Winchester Cathedral. He was an assistant curate first in Southampton and then in Andover where, with his 97hp Mobile Church, he served the new housing estates on the outskirts of the market town. Next, he revived a Southampton church which had been earmarked for closure, before becoming the vicar of a large parish in Bournemouth. Bryan has also written and illustrated a number of books on motor racing. Devoted to his own pet cats and dogs, he feels that all God`s creatures have greatly enriched his life.