Reverend Tom Banfield celebrated the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the Anglican priesthood at Holy Trinity Ararat on Advent Sunday.
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Father Banfield was ordained at the Anglican Cathedral in Wangaratta.
He left Ararat in 1953 and was trained at Crafers in South Australia under the Kelham Fathers, sharing their life in the monastery at Crafers.
After serving in the Wangaratta parish, he was priest in charge at Nagambie and then Mutchison-Rushwoth.
While in England from 1960-66 he was the Bishop of Derby’s Youth Chaplain and in a partnership in youth work with the church, statuary and voluntary youth agencies.
While priest in charge of St David’s East Doncaster, he developed a program of family adventure camps for the Diocese of Melbourne and later the province of Victoria.
From 1976 to 1989 he was in the Diocese of Bendigo, first at Cobram and then at Dunolly.
Father Banfield retired from full-time parish work in 1989 to further the Anglican Family Camps program, developing a camping ground at Pomonal that saw 200 families attend over the years.
Father Banfield is now retired and lives in Ararat.