MY FIRST CAR
The Bishop of Wakefield, Tony Robinson, was a curate when he got his first car, a Renault 14, which he said was essential for his early ministry in Tottenham in London.
“I paid about £1,000 for it,” he said. “But I needed a car to get to see parishioners and to go to the crematorium in Enfield for example which was about half an hour away.
“It was a good car, I seem to remember. I was always having to do things. Rust was a problem, which doesn’t seem to be an issue these days.”
He will retire this summer after 42 years of ordained ministry.
Bishop Tony, one of five Episcopal Area Bishops in the Anglican Diocese of Leeds, came to the then Diocese of Wakefield as Archdeacon of Pontefract on September 1, 1997, and so describes himself as “incomer” to Yorkshire for 27 years.
He says he will miss Yorkshire when he retires to Essex in August to be near his grandchildren.
“I will also miss my car, a Peugeot e-208 which is an electric car. I really am a convert to such cars. People talk about problems charging but all you have to do is plan ahead a little.
“It has never been a problem for me. All the charging infrastructure seems to be near McDonald’s or KFCs so you simply charge it for 20 minutes and have a coffee. I really don’t seen it as a problem.”
The Peugeot is his “company car” but the family also have a second car which is a diesel. “When it comes to change that car we will certainly get an electric car,” he said.
On December 2, 2002 he was consecrated as Bishop of Pontefract in York Minster by the then Archbishop of York, David Hope and after the creation of the Diocese of Leeds in 2014, he became its first Bishop of Wakefield in 2015.