Religion: Sheffield vicar looks back on 93 years of service, faith and controversy

But this 93-year-old is a force of nature who defies diagnosis. He has heart problems, a collapsed pancreas, osteoarthritis, diabetes, a damaged kidney and a spinal injury. He also has a smile on his face.

“Disabled in many ways but carrying on in life, normally, as far as possible by the grace of God,” he says, as we talk at his home in Ringinglow Road, Ecclesall.

“Despite all, God has blessed me with contentment and inner peace and has still a purpose for my continued life on earth.”

One example of this is his lust for the written word. He’s a voracious reader which includes ancient works and has produced a chronological history of the early church, which is handwritten on a large luminous sheet of card.

It features emperors, bishops, Christian writings, secular writings and heresies. The research and sheer physical effort needed to have done such work tell you much about this remarkable and determined man.

A Church of England vicar who was born in Singapore but settled in Sheffield, he was at St Augustine’s Church on Brocco Bank, Endcliffe, from 1978 to 1990. Prior to that he had worked in Birmingham, where he wanted to allow Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Rastafarians to worship in the parish hall.

The father-of-two also invited controversial Wolverhampton MP Enoch Powell - who caused public outrage in the 1960s for speaking against mass immigration from the Commonwealth countries into Britain. You get the idea – Father Charles was a radical.

He was baptised with the names of his paternal and maternal grandparents Charles Edward and the surname was also Charles. He later added the Indian name Meedperdas because it means servant of the saviour.

Father Charles said: “I am the first Asian priest from South East Asia to have an incumbency in UK. I also ran a counselling centre and put up homeless people, including drug addicts and drunks and down and outs in the cellar of the vicarage at my own cost.”

This was at St Augustine’s in Endcliffe, where he continued to innovate. "My Parish Church was the first to have women servers and even a husband and wife team of servers when it was not officially allowed. I also was the first and only vicar to give children a fruit sweet at the altar when the parents were having Holy Communion.

"I also gave away my inherited and acquired income to the poor when I was working, and then retired penniless, in a home belonging to the Church of England Charity.”

Which is where he lives now, close to Ecclesall Parish Church. He has a raft of newspaper cuttings to show me, one which dubs him Sheffield’s own Ghandi lookalike. Another calls him the greatest peace-maker and a Star front page reports how he penned a new inclusive version of the national anthem for the Golden Jubilee.

As we approach the Platinum Jubilee, Father Charles is a fan of the Queen. “I stayed in Windsor Castle and had a cup of tea with her and the Queen Mother,” he says. “I love the Queen and whenever there was trouble in the Royal family I prayed for her.”

There’s an old picture of the Queen in his study, sent by the Dean of Windsor who was there when Father Charles visited. He has also set up an altar so he can pray if getting to church is impossible. Prayer is important to him. “I’m not a saint and I have thoughts which are not so good but my faith makes me do what I should do,” he says.

"Sometimes I veer so then I pray to God to forgive me. No-one is perfect, not even an Archbishop or Pope.”

His Sheffield memories are many and always include people. “The people are straight here, if they don’t like you they will say so,” he says. “There were people who didn’t want me here but I tried to do good.”

He recalls an incident in Endcliffe in the 1980s when a bottle wielding thug confronted him, shoputing abuse. “He attacked me but I knew some kararte and managed to disarm him. The police arrested him and told me he was a member of the National Front.”

Born in 1928, Father Charles lived through the Japanese occupation of south-east Asia during which his father was imprisoned.

From Singapore he went to Bangalore, India, where he studied the theology of eight major world religions. “My father wanted me to be a doctor but I said I wanted to study religion. In those days as teenagers we all rebelled against religion - but I wanted to find out more.”

In 1958 he came to England to study at Cambridge, driving from Singapore to France by car. It took him 58 days to travel the 6742 miles - with his father, mother, sister, wife and daughter in tow - journeying across India, Pakistan, Persia, Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy and France.

It was worth the effort and he became a much loved figure, as the programmes for his 70th and 90th birthdays in Sheffield show. The 70th was a birthday lunch featuring a solo by an organist who had been chosen to play at the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of bishops from across the Anglican Communion.

The 90th featured Father Charles as guest preacher at a sung mass in St Matthew’s Church on Carver Street in the city centre.

As he looks back, he seems satisfied. “I had a very happy time in every parish that I served. I was never interested in accumulating riches or wealth or even any honours.

"So I was brave and always willing to raise my voice publicly against any power that be or unfair legislation.”

His words sound timely, as we emerge from a pandemic which has left many questioning what to do. Father Charles might have some answers. "I took the voice of the vulnerable, the poor and the minorities to city councils, Prime Ministers and MPs,” he says.

"I worked for fairness, equality and human dignity and also for the value of every human life.”

His choices are interesting, spending his money on a drop-in centre, a counselling centre and he still supports needy people. “When I was about to retire due to health problems, the Church of England pensions board seeing my predicament kindly offered me one of their retirement homes for the retired poor clergy on a subsidised rent,” he says.

"That is where I still am despite all the restrictions. I have had no interest in money or property or any kind of wealth but only in the welfare and the peace and joy of fellowship and friendship with people of all races, cultures and religions.”

It’s a powerful message and one he is not afraid to preach. “I hope that I have preached about Jesus without offence to those who uphold other faiths and have encouraged them to see Jesus without fear or prejudice.”

Whether you agree with him or not, his views are certainly worth considering. “I know for certain that I have touched many hearts and minds with the love of Jesus and have brought hope and faith in God into their lives, as an unworthy servant. I thank God for his grace and mercy on my life and ministry.”