The Rt Revd Dr John Saxbee writes:

BISHOP Ian Griggs was born and raised in Essex, attending Brent­wood School before joining the Essex Regiment for his term of National Service. Intending to be a school teacher, he read English and history at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. But, inspired by the priest in his home parish, he trained for ordina­tion at Westcott House, Cambridge, and was ordained in 1954 to a curacy at St Cuthbert’s, Portsea, in Ports­­mouth diocese.

Greatly influenced by the Out­ward Bound movement, he acquired a life-long love of hill country and the great outdoors, eyes fixed firmly on his destination from which he would not be easily distracted. This featured pro­­minently in his work as Sheffield diocesan youth chaplain, with his adventurous approach to both life and faith proving attractive to a new generation.

At the same time, he became closely acquainted with episcopal min­­­­­­­­istry as Domestic Chaplain to Leslie Hunter, Bishop of Sheffield. Remaining in the diocese for his first incumbency, he became Vicar of St Cuthbert’s, Firvale, and found parochial ministry to be very much his forte, working to a traditional pat­tern of daily Offices, pastoral visit­­­ing, accessible worship, effective preach­­­ing, and conscientious ad­­­min­­­­­­­istra­­tion.

Ian married Pat while at Westcott, and they formed the strongest of part­nerships in life and ministry. Their growing family guaranteed that vicarage life was never dull, and they ensured that the parish church would always be a welcoming com­­munity of care and encouragement. 

From 1972 to 1984, Ian served as Vicar and then Team Rector of Kidderminster in Worcester diocese, a town then suffering from the decline of its carpet-manufacturing industry.

He brought his boundless energy and commitment to this socially di­­verse benefice, and trained a succession of curates, who testify to a rigorous regime based on his own robust rule of life. Visiting was cen­­­tral, and he advised them to knock three times on every door in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. On leaving Kidderminster, he retained a lively interest in their pro­gress, and, on his consecration, they presented him with his pastoral staff.

In 1984, Ian was appointed Archdeacon of Ludlow in Hereford diocese, which he combined with care for the parish of Tenbury St Michael with its extraordinary High Victorian church and college build­ings. He quickly adapted to the rather dif­­ferent demands on min­­istry in one of the country’s most rural arch­deaconries, and set about acquaint­ing himself with A. E .Houseman’s “Clunton, Clunbury, Clungun­­ford and Clun, Are the quietest places Under the sun” and, of course, those “blue remembered hills”.

Bishop John Eastaugh appointed him to the suffragan see of Ludlow in 1987, to which ministry Ian brought his pastoral heart, practical theology and, with Pat, generous hospitality. One of his former rural deans describes Ian as al­­ways a team rector: “forth­­right, organised, and effi­­cient, but with the care of the clergy always high in his priorities”. Memorably, he would puncture perceived pom­­posity with an ap­­pro­priately sub­­versive ob­­serva­tion.

His well-honed social conscience characterised his public persona, which was not always popular with advocates of the status quo. Notably, with Bishop John Oliver, his unequivocal support for the ordina­­tion of women went a long way towards ensuring that the diocese of Hereford punched above its weight in pro­­moting equal oppor­tun­ities for ministry.

On retirement in 1994, he and Pat set up home in Patterdale, Cumbria, where, in spite of major heart sur­­gery, his Outward Bound spirit saw him scaling the fells and joining the local mountain rescue team.

While keeping a modestly low profile in exercising episcopal min­­istry in the diocese, he offered to edit the diocesan prayer diary and did so with characteristic care and effi­ciency. He gave unobtrusive support to often quite isolated clergy in the area and, until mobility issues inter­vened, regularly attended events for retired clergy.

Ian died on 11 January 2021, aged 92, and is survived by Pat, their five children and a quiverfull of grand- and great-grandchildren.

For many years, Ian served on the governing body of Atlantic College in South Wales. Its focus is on “physical challenge, service to others, initiative leadership, and teamwork” — the very priorities that he brought to his own life and min­istry.