Michael Phillips was born in Bury St Edmunds and grew up near to St John’s. Although his parents were not church-goers, Michael was baptized at the church by Fr Ullathorne. Aged about 9, Michael began attending services, joining the choir soon after. This was in the mid-1950s, when Roy Southwell was Vicar.
In those days, boys and men robed up at different ends of the vestry and never dared cross the heating grid which served as the ‘dividing line’! Choirboys were paid a small weekly retainer for singing two services on a Sunday, plus half-a-crown (12½p) for weddings. Michael was in the choir until the early 1960s when he was appointed a server. He also ran a singing group for younger people.
Michael attended St John’s School between the ages of 5 and 7. He also joined the Sunday School, which was held in the church on Sunday afternoons. A Mr Shreeve was the Sunday School superintendent, and classes were spread out round the church. At the age of 15, Michael became a Sunday School teacher, with a class of boys only a few years younger than himself. He taught in the Sunday School for about 7 years. Later he encouraged the church to re-start the King’s Messengers, a midweek group providing spiritual guidance for young people.
Michael met his wife, Janet, at St John’s, and they were married in the church in 1969. Fr John Peach, who had left St John’s the previous year after twelve years as Vicar, returned to marry them, and Michael and Janet asked Mr and Mrs Peach to be godparents to their eldest daughter, Stephanie, born in 1970. Michael and Janet had two further children.
In his early twenties Michael joined the Parochial Church Council, serving for ten years. Then, in October 1977, following the death of Eddie Gillard, he was approached to stand for election as a churchwarden. He did so reluctantly, but was duly re-elected every year until 2010. He has contributed to St John’s in many other ways, most notably by staging numerous musical events, including whole musicals, in the church. He also organizes charity concerts elsewhere in Suffolk. For many years Michael contributed a historical column to the church magazine, trawling back through early editions and plucking out interesting items for inclusion. He acts as a liturgical deacon, helping to officiate at the Eucharist.
By profession Michael is a monumental mason. He served his apprenticeship with Mossfords before moving to work at Hanchets, a firm which has been established in Bury St Edmunds since 1776. He later set up his own successful business.
Following his wife Janet’s death in 2011, Michael donated a lamp for the aumbry, where the consecrated bread and wine is stored, in her memory.