TINTAGEL Catholic priest Father Bryan Sydney Storey died in Truro on July 26.

Father Bryan was born May 8, 1933 in London. He was the oldest son of Dorothy and Sydney Storey, he also has a younger brother Keith, who died a few years ago.

Father Bryan was evacuated to Cornwall with his schoolmates in 1940. He and his brother Keith stayed with Rita Deacon (Auntie Rita) and her son Roger, who lived in Bossiney Road, Tintagel. He attended St Materiana Anglican Church in Tintagel every Sunday and was greatly influenced by Canon Arthur Cuthbert Canner. It was here he soon discovered his belief in God.

In 1948 he converted to the Catholic faith. After having worked in various London accountancy firms, he did his two-year compulsory military service in the RAF as a clerk.

He was accepted for training in the Catholic seminaries of St Augustine’s, Walworth, London and St John’s, Wonersh, near Guildford, Surrey (1953 to 1960).

Father Bryan was ordained on June 16, 1960 at St Anselm’s Church, Tooting Bec, South West London, by Archbishop Cowderoy for the Diocese of Southwark. He served 11 years as a curate at the Parish of St Peter in Portland Road, Hove. During this time the new Diocese of Arundel and Brighton was formed, he became a priest of the Diocese on June 14 1965.

Due to personal circumstances he moved to Cornwall in 1971. It was meant to be a temporary move but lasted over 47 years!

For two years he helped the Canons Regular of the Lateran (CRL) based in Bodmin, to serve 16 mission stations in Cornwall. He was allowed in 1973 to be Priest in Charge of the CRL Mission in Tintagel. In 1976 the CRL left Bodmin due to decreasing vocations, Father Bryan stayed on. These were extremly hard years for Father Bryan as priests did not get a salary. He lived as the poor do. He found a little flat in Trewarmett run by Roger Deacon and his wife Pat. He lived there for many years before buying his own little cottage in Trewarmett and then finally building Chy an Pronter (priest’s house in Cornish) and living his final years next to the church he had served and loved so well.

The Mission is not small and in his younger days Father Bryan would cycle everywhere in the parish visiting his parishioners and searching out those who had lapsed through the Legion of Mary. He also founded the International Crusade for Moral Reform and ran Eucharistic Renewal Books.

Father Bryan used to love writing letters on subjects that interested him. He appeared on many local radio stations throughout the UK and was even given a five-minute slot on Channel 4 to have his say on morality.

Many in the media labelled him a controversial priest because of his conservative views, but those who knew him well, saw deeper into the heart and soul of the priest. He was a man of faith, which showed by his actions towards others. In 2010 he celebrated his Golden Jubilee of the Priesthood at St Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Tintagel.

The last few years Father Bryan suffered from two different types of cancer, Parkinson’s disease and finally he broke his hip and died due to complications caused by pneumonia.