Reverend Simon Tarlton – Chaplain

Some of my earliest memories are of endless days of fun and games with my cousins on our
grandfather’s farm in Essex. He farmed a very modest (by today’s standards) 96 acres near
Witham and had, it seemed, a little of everything. As I subsequently discovered he in fact tried a
lot of different things until finally finding something that paid even a little. The combination of
only monthly visits and the romanticism of youth have conspired to paint a picture of rural,
‘Darling Buds of May’ bliss. The truth, I now realise, was a lot harder.

By the late 1970’s egg production was settled on as the way forward. Thousands of hens
housed in a motley assemblage of barns, sheds and converted Nissen huts. The move
coincided with my more frequent visits, and I joined the small, overworked and unpaid team
engaged in an incessant round of feeding, clearing water lines, cleaning out, egg collecting,
sorting and delivery, and any number of other jobs that constantly demanded attention. I had no money and was never hungry. Happy days.

By the time the 1980’s arrived however I was ready to up and leave the simplicity of this rural
idyll and seek a fortune in the big city. For the next 20 years I built a career in the shipping
industry and spent time working in New Zealand, Singapore, The Philippines and Hong Kong.
Redundancy in my 40’s allowed me to follow a new path into horticulture and I built a business
helping people to restore historically important landscapes around the world.

The call to Christian ministry, although rumbling under the surface for some time, finally became
unignorable and I was ordained in 2015, serving my Curacy in Ross on Wye, as parish Priest in
Lugwardine, Bartestree and neighbouring villages and finally back to my adopted Goodrich.
These days I am as likely to be found conducting a service in a prison as I am in a church.

And somewhere along the line my wife, Caroline, and I joined the Harewood End Agricultural
Society. We think it was at a South Herefordshire Country Show at Caradoc one year. We were
probably feeling particularly ‘agricultural’ having recently taken delivery of 9, essentially
uncontrollable, Torwen (Badger-faced) yews. This bold experiment in doing our bit to preserve
an ‘at risk’ breed grew to over 40 and almost broke us (in every sense of the word). I believe it
also did much to amuse our professional sheep farming friends.

Joining the Society has been one of the best things either of us ever did. We have made an
enormous number of friends and had a great deal of fun. I am delighted (and a little
overwhelmed) to have been asked to be your Chaplain but first and foremost I am a member,
here to help wherever and whenever I can, committed to continuing to make friends and have
fun. Please feel free to get in touch anytime simon.tarlton@gmail.com 07462 893457