The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
New minister was singer in a punk band
AGulf War veteran who fronted a punk rock band and triumphed on one of daytime TV’ s toughest quizzes has been ordained as a Church of Scotland minister in Perthshire.
The Rev Craig Dobney was inducted to Comrie linked with Dundurn churches last night.
The 54-year-old former RAF avionics engineer, who won an episode of The Weakest Link in 2010, said he was looking forward to the fresh challenges.
Mr Dobney, who joined the air force in 1984 and served for 22 years, said: “At a time when life is so difficult for so many people, I feel so honoured to be called to serve the communities of Comrie and St Fillans.”
The son of a Baptist minister, he grew up in Perthshire and is married to Donna-Kerri. The couple have four children – Laura, Steffi, Daniel and Liam, and four grandchildren – Olivia, Logan, Robyn and Chase.
Mr Dobney served with 43 Squadron at RAF Leuchars and saw active service in far flung places across the globe, including the Falklands, Middle East and Baltic region.
He said serving in both the 1990 and 2003 Gulf Wars “enhanced” his faith.
Recalling his tour in 1990, he said: “I was an engineer on the ground based in Saudi Arabia with XI Sqn Tornado F3s.
“I fixed the radar, navigation fly-by-wire and weapons-aiming systems but I also assisted in loading the missiles and the guns.”
He said the call to ministry properly developed several years later while on a trip to Khartoum in the Sudan in 2014 when he worked with Air Service Training (AST), based at Perth College.
“Our vehicle stopped at a set of traffic lights where a number of ver y young children, aged around six10, came over to us selling little plastic toys,” he said.
“They needed the money to feed themselves and their families – it was heart breaking.”
A keen golfer and Raith Rovers season ticket holder, he holds a business studies degree from the Open University and a degree in divinity from New College in Edinburgh.
In his younger days, he worked as a radio and nightclub DJ and fronted a band called The Grind which performed covers of punk and heavy rock.
A conservation worker using museum grade vacuums and brushes begins the task of cleaning years of dirt and dust from the Pulpitum, known as the King’s Screen, at York Minster.
The ornate 15th Century screen, which separates the cathedral’s Quire from the Nave, displays 15 statues of English kings from William the Conqueror to Henry VI. It has been hidden from view by scaffolding since the summer of 2018 as part of the restoration of the Grand Organ.
Picture by Danny Lawson/PA Wire.