RIP Fr Clive Birch SM

Written By Matthew Eastley

On the first day of December just gone, I heard the sad news from Fr Des Hanrahan that Fr Clive Birch had died at the age of 82. Fr Birch was only at St Mary’s for a relatively short time in the late 1970s, but he made a deep and lasting impression on many of us.

He was our form master in 1A when we started in September 1977 and because he was also new to the school made us feel he was with us on our journey. He looked out for us, cared for us and always seemed to have our best interests at heart. Yes, we played him up at times but I think he realised that we were, underneath it all, decent, normal lads. I recall a caring, good-humoured and warm man who wanted the best for us. What he really excelled at was music and while I personally frustrated him with my woeful attempts to produce dulcet sounds on the trumpet, superb musicians like Phil Hall in my year and Ian Moffat in the year above have both said how much they owe him. All too soon he was gone and, at Easter in our second year, he left to become the first Director of the National Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham, in Norfolk. This sparked a whole new set of adventures, and trips to Walsingham between 1979 and 1981 became the stuff of legend. Once more we tried his patience with numerous pranks and misdemeanours but his wry smile and measured Lancastrian accent, occasionally dripping with well-judged sarcasm, demonstrated that he was not too upset. In his latter years, Clive fought with serious health problems, after suffering a stroke in 2003 and spent the last seven years of his life in the Holy Name Care Home in Hull. Yet he continued to enjoy the company of the other Marist fathers and the warmth with which he was spoken of at his recent requiem mass indicated the esteem and affection with which he was held. He was a wonderful, talented man and I believe those of us who joined St Mary’s in 1977 were lucky to be guided by him during our first two years at the school.

Fr Clive Birch Born 29 January 1938 Died 1 December 2020.