Father Daren Brown
Feb 4th 1967:
Born in Harrogate. Father sold agricultural equipment and Mother worked for the local telephone exchange, which is how my parents initially met.
Dad would call my mother up when she was at work eventually asking her out. My Dad had been in the Army and was posted to Austria after the War. Both of my Dad’s brothers had served in WW2, one as a medic and the other in the Cavalry, who died in Egypt and is buried there.
I have one older, one younger brother and a step-brother; one is an Easyjet pilot, one a chef and the other a university lecturer. Chances are that you have flown with my pilot brother as one of his major routes is Manchester to Paphos.
1969: Moved to Carlton-in Lindrick, Nottinghamshire. Started school here. Mother became a teacher and Dad started his own business selling toys and speed boats. Life as a child was great!
1976: Moved to Dunham-on Trent, Nottinghamshire. Finished primary school and went to Tuxford Comprehensive. During this period I was an Air Cadet near RAF Scampton, where we used to sit in the Vulcan Bombers that were based there. We also flew the gliders and Chipmunks there. As a family we went to Austria every year skiing, as my Dad spoke fluent German due to his years there in the Army.
1983: Left school and we moved to Nottingham city. I went to college and studied carpentry where I made a guitar for my final project. I also bought my first motorbike, a Yamaha RD50, and Joined the Scouts as a Junior leader. Our scout group had a link with a group in the Faroe Islands in Scandinavia.
1984: Got a job making cabinets. I also drove a 7.5 tonner occasionally delivering cabinets to customers. I also wood turned. Bought my second motorbike, a Yamaha RD125.
1985: Dad sadly died this year which was obviously traumatic and I went to work in Israel on a Kibbutz farm just south of the Dead Sea for six months, which we swam in most Saturdays. We grew melons and tomatoes and my principle mode of transport was a tractor.
I eventually returned to the UK and joined the Territorial Army in the Royal Corps of Transport attached to 144 Para Field Ambulance. Went on Exercise Lion Heart, Germany in 1986 and was based north of Hamburg. Towards the end of the exercise I badly sprained my ankle and spent a week in a British Military Hospital in Hanover.
1986: Making cabinets became a bit tedious so I went to work for an elevator, earthing and lightning protection company called W.J. Furse & Co Ltd. I also went up to the Faroe Islands for an international scout camp this year.
To the Faroes
1987: I had just completed P-Company in Aldershot with my TA unit but soon after, before actually parachuting, I found a job in the Faroe Islands. I initially worked in a fish factory but then found work with the national electric company building pylons over the mountains.
I got the job because I could make the wooden forms required for the cement foundations. I also constructed the pylons and scaled up them putting the frames together. Dynamiting was also part of my job as we had to blow away the soft rock so we could put the foundations on the hard rock underneath. I learned to speak Faroese which is the same language as Icelandic.
1988: I began to sense a vocation to the priesthood after meeting the only Catholic priest in the Faroe Islands, Father Per Vago. A friend of mine read an article about Pope John Paul II visiting Scandinavia and it was left to me to contact the priest to ask if there was a trip to go and see the Pope. The priest came to see us and we both started to go the Mass, which was about 50 miles away along a mountain road in the summer and a ferry in the winter.
Back to England
1989: Father Per collapsed in the house whilst I was there and I had him taken to hospital, sadly he died the day after. In 1990 I left the Faroes and returned to Nottingham, where I worked for Boots the Chemist making various medications, including Strepsil cough sweets.
1991: I entered a monastery and stayed there for five years studying for the priesthood. Out of term time I worked in parishes in Liverpool, Manchester, and Assisi (Italy) taking pilgrims and tourists around the basilicas and giving fresco art tours. In my last year (1995) I began my first year at the University of Kent.
1996: I left the monastery but still pursued a desire to become a priest. Upon finishing my degree I joined the Nottingham Diocese in 1998 and was sent to Rome to finish my studies for three years. I also completed a Masters Degree in one of the Vatican universities.
2001: Ordained a deacon in St Paul’s Outside the Walls Basilica in Rome and went to work in Mansfield for one year. We had about one thousand parishioners so I got a tremendous experience here. Went back to Rome to complete my dissertation.
2003: I was ordained to the priesthood in Mansfield and was sent to rural parish in Hadfield, Derbyshire and spent two years here as an assistant priest. I ended up looking after four parishes, five schools and three hospitals whilst my colleague recovered from a heart attack. He would have died had I not been in the house. Between 2003 and 2011 I owned three more motorbikes, a Honda Transalp 650, a Yamaha TDM900 and a Yamaha FJR1300 Sport Tourer. In 2005 I made a 4800 mile motorbike tour around Europe.
2005: Joined the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department. Since then I have been posted to Larkhill, Germany (twice), Catterick, Abingdon, Northern Ireland, and now Cyprus. I have been on three tours: Herrick 4 & 12 and Telic 12.
My hobbies/interests are: scuba diving, flying (light aircraft), fine dining cooking, motorbikes, tennis, singing. I speak reasonable Italian.