In Memoriam
Father Geoff Hughes
Father Geoff was born in Finchley, North London, on the 7th August 1925. His parents ran a sweets-and-tobacco shop and lived behind and above it. His father was also a businessman in the City. Geoff had two older half-brothers whose father had been killed in the First World War. When Geoff was about ten years old his parents bought a fruit-and-produce shop in Hornchurch, Essex, now part of Greater London. After his father retired from the City in 1936 the family moved south to Brighton, Sussex. Geoff attended state primary schools then won a scholarship to Varndean Grammar School in Brighton. Due to his father having been hit by a car and losing a leg just weeks after retiring the family found it necessary to leave the South Coast in 1940, as his father could not have made it to an air-raid shelter, and were evacuated to the Lake District (now Cumbria), to a village called Lorton. Geoff completed his education at the County Grammar School in Cockermouth (where he was also confirmed by the Bishop of Carlisle), matriculating to the University of Durham, and gained a Scholarship to Brighton College of Arts and Crafts in 1942.
Once again the war interrupted his education and at the age of eighteen he volunteered for the Royal Navy where he was an Able Seaman, minesweeping in the North Atlantic in HMS Blackpool, a converted trawler, then serving in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian and Pacific Oceans (based in Sydney) in HMS Tumult, a T-class Destroyer, in the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. His ship was part of the "Big Push" up to Japan when the Bombs were dropped. Geoff was demobilised in November 1946, though officially released early to return to College at the beginning of September. He was awarded the 1939-45 Campaign Medal and the 1939-45 Burma Star.
He completed his training during six years at the Brighton College of Arts and Crafts, gaining the National Diploma in Design in 1951 and the Art Teacher’s Diploma in 1952, this qualification being an MA equivalent.
Wishing to remain in the Brighton area Geoff became a supply teacher in 1953 and then was accepted for the position of Art Master at Queen’s College, a Methodist Missionary School in Nassau in the Bahamas. He thoroughly enjoyed this experience in 1954 and returned to England the following year.
Geoff then returned to teaching Art on a supply basis in London before being appointed Senior Art Master at Alfred Sutton Secondary Boys’ School, Reading, Berkshire (northwest of London) in 1955. Whilst there he taught evening classes for the Workers’ Educational Association. He lectured in art and art history, concentrating on different periods covering painting, sculpture, architecture, furniture and design. He also gave part-time adult tuition at the Reading School of Art and at Reading Gaol (which once housed Oscar Wilde). During this time he met and married Shirley, whom he had met through a shared involvement in theatre, and a son, Mark, came along.
In 1967 for various reasons the family decided to emigrate and made New Zealand their country of choice so Geoff went to New Zealand House in London and started applying for suitable postitions. He was invited to become the Head of Departmernt, Art, at Gore High School (at that time one of the country’s biggest high schools). The family came out aboard the Northern Star then travelled by ferry and train to Gore where Geoff taught until moving to Port Chalmers in 1981. He also taught adult evening classes in pottery and painting during those years. As a "New Zealand potter" he exhibited pottery and paintings widely throughout New Zealand.
Whilst in Gore Geoff was accepted as an ordination candidate for the Non-stipendiary Ministry and was ordained Deacon by Bishop Peter Mann on the Feast of St Philip and St James the Less, Apostles, at Holy Trinity, Gore, in 1978; then ordained priest, also by Bishop Mann, on the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple at St Paul’s Cathedral, Dunedin, in 1979. Geoff said he felt something "kicking him" in that direction - he truly was called by God.
Geoff was assistant Priest in Gore from 1978 until the end of 1980. In 1981 he was Licensed to All Saints’, Dunedin, to be responsible for Port Chalmers, Sawyers Bay and St Leonards. He became Vicar of the reconstituted parish of Port Chalmers/Warrington in 1983 until his retirement in 1990. Studying part-time Geoff gained his L.Th in 1986.
From 1981 until 1983 Geoff lectured part-time in Design in the Faculty of Home Science at the University of Otago. He also worked for the WEA in Dunedin and became President of the Association, lecturing in Art History and instructing classes in painting. From 1983 until 1988 he was part-time Director of ITIM, the Interchurch Trade & Industry Mission (Southern), which provided chaplains to major places of employment. Geoff was Chaplain to the local Servers’ Guild Chapter of the Most Holy Sacrament in Dunedin 1981-2001 and an Officiating Minister of the Diocese of Dunedin as from 1990, and exercised his ministry on a weekly basis and whenever else called upon to do so right up until his death.
Two other organisations which Geoff was heavily involved in were the Hearing Association and the Hearing-Dogs Trust. In 1987 Geoff was operated on for an acoustic neuroma (brain tumour) which left him completely deaf in the right ear so he joined the then Hard of Hearing League and served two terms as its president, an office he held at the time of his death. He was awarded a Life Membership of the Association, of which he was very proud. Later he learnt about hearing-dogs and having received Toby became a Trustee/Board-member and also a public speaker for the cause. Late in his life his vision deteriorated to the point where he had to give up driving so he joined the fledgling VIP (Visually Impaired Persons) group, devoting himself to it as he always did to whatever he turned his hand to.
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