Roly ready to preach with a high wire act

Holy Cross Church will host Roly Bain once more when the clowns take over Bognor Regis during March 9-11.

Roly is a qualified Anglican vicar and a fully fledged clown. He uses both talents to the maximum advantage to gain his audience's attention. His attendance at Holy Cross Church last year saw him walk along a thick, slack rope which was at least 5ft above the floor.

He added to the difficulty of the trick by performing other clown antics as he made his way across the rope. All the while, he was using his unorthodox methods before a packed congregation of about 100 worshippers to talk about Jesus being crucified on the cross. The Rev John Quigley, the church's vicar, said: 'He had peoples' hearts in their mouths watching him.

'It was a fantastic act. It was a very subtle way of bringing out the message that God loves us.'

Roly Bain's latest appearance at the Chichester Road church will take place at its 5.30pm family service on Saturday, March 10.

'He is going to be assisting in the service in order to bring out the truth of the gospel. There will be quite a lot of clowns there as well. There were about 20 clowns in the church last year and they perform different tricks during the service and mingle with people afterwards.'

l Roly Bain will also be appearing at the Sunday communion service at St Mary's Church in Climping at 11am the next day.

Peter Wallis, a priest at the church, said: 'I have seen Roly Bain several times and he is very talented.

'He treats spirituality in a different way to anyone else. It's not a boring and dry matter with him.'