Peter Swarbrick, Permanent Deacon

I was born in 1940 in Blackpool and was educated at St Kentigern's Junior School and St Joseph's College, a grammar school run by the Irish Christian Brothers. At the age of 15 my family moved to Manchester and I completed my schooling at St Bede's College before going on to Keele University where I read Mathematics and Physics.

After graduation I started work in the engineering industry and, after a short spell in Production Management, spent thirty years in Personnel Management, mainly in Industrial relations. During this period I worked for companies in Manchester, Hull and Milton Keynes before moving to work in Nottingham, and live in Keyworth, in 1975. The closure, at the start of 1998, of the company I was working for enabled me to retire from full time employment and take a part-time job as an administrator with the Nottinghamshire Lawn Tennis Association.

My call to the Permanent Diaconate coincided with this semi-retirement and the additional free time enabled me to devote sufficient time to the studies required by the Diaconate course. After three years study I was ordained Deacon, along with thirteen other candidates, by Bishop Malcolm in January 2001. I have been married to my wife, Anne, for thirty three years and have three grown up children and one grandchild.

I see the role of Deacon as assisting my Parish Priest, the Parish and the Diocese in any way I can.