Death of former Rector

THE death has occurred of Canon James “Joc” Colling, former Rector of Warrington, who served the church in the town for 38 years.
He retired in 1997 after spending 13 years as vicar of Christ Church, Padgate before moving to Warrington Parish Church for a further 25 years.
Canon Colling was known to almost everyone as “Joc” because of his initials, JO Colling.
He was Rector at the time of the IRA bombings in Warrington, when he found himself thrust into the public eye overnight as international leaders and the media descended on the town.
It was a challenge he met squarely, well prepared as a Chaplain to the Queen to deal with the protocol of the situation but also, more poignantly, by the tragic death of his own son, aged three, in 1970.
This gave him a special empathy with the families of Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball, who died in the bombings.
Canon Colling played a full part in the life of Warrington. He was a trustee of the Warrington Project, chairman of the governors of Sir Thomas Boteler High School and Fairfield CE Primary School, chairman of the Warrington CE Educational Trust and chaplain of the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment.
He was also closely involved in the building of the Church of the Ascension at Woolston, where he laid the foundation stone.
As a Queen’s Chaplain he preached at St James’s Palace and attended the Queen’s gatherings for her chaplains at Holyrood House and Sandringham. He was also awarded the MBE.
At the time of his retirement he and his wife, Jean, said they intended researching local history, visiting old buildings and seeing friends and family.
Throughout the highs and lows of a clergyman’s life, and in particularly through the harrowing period of the Warrington bombings, his faith never deserted him.
He said: “I can’t say there has been anything that has shaken my faith.”
Picture: St Elphin’s Parish Church, Warrington, where Canon Colling was Rector for 25 years.