First Bishop of Huddersfield receives honorary doctorate
Mon, 28 Jul 2014 12:39:00 BST
The Rt Revd Tony Robinson receives an Honorary Doctorate of the University
THE Rt Revd Tony Robinson is currently the Area Bishop for Wakefield and has been the Interim Area Bishop for Huddersfield, in effect the first Bishop of Huddersfield under the newly-formed Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales.
Bishop Tony has been a regular visitor to the University of Huddersfield, both during his tenure as Interim Area Bishop for Huddersfield and prior to this as Bishop of Pontefract. Bishop Tony received the honorary award of Honorary Doctorate of the University at the University’s Awards Ceremonies held last week.
The Rt Revd Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson (pictured) moved to West Yorkshire in 1997 to be Archdeacon of Pontefract, after fifteen years in parish ministry in London and Leicester and two years teaching maths in Chelmsford. He was consecrated Bishop of Pontefract in 2002.
The parishes and dioceses that Tony has served in during his ministry have been urban, multi-ethnic and multi-faith. As well as sustaining the Church community, there has always been the challenge of engaging with all the different communities in an area to develop understanding and work towards a more cohesive common life. In Leicester this resulted in the development of community facilities and encouraging their use by community groups and agencies which worked on specific needs in the area. The first project in the UK working with male perpetrators of domestic violence was set up by the parish.
In West Yorkshire, some of Tony’s work has been around interfaith issues and community cohesion, to develop knowledge, understanding and create opportunities for the different faith communities to work together in the area. Setting up Kirklees Faiths Forum, as a strategic body to raise awareness of faith issues in Kirklees, has led to initiatives such as Interfaith Kirklees, a nationally-acclaimed project for schools, regular meetings between clergy and imams. He also was instrumental in the initiation of a project to bring together statutory and legal agencies in the UK and Pakistan to look at ways that they can work together for the benefit of the community in both countries.
Sharing food has been a key element in bringing together people from different cultures and Tony has enjoyed the variety of cuisines that he has sampled. He also enjoys cooking, music and the theatre. Through work, he has also learned to enjoy travel, visiting Pakistan, India and Tanzania in recent years.
