Canon John Paul Hoskins

From the age of two, John Paul was fascinated by music. It started with his father’s viola, which he would try to play. He had his own violin by the age of five, and under the strong support of the Head of Music at Abingdon School, he learned to play the violin, the viola, and the piano. He played in orchestras and sang in choirs.  

Later on, John Paul would say ‘music makes my brain stop.’ The complexity of it, the beauty, the wordless, and the deep order was ‘enough’ to keep his huge mind occupied, and to give him rest.  

As an undergraduate, he went to Durham – where he sang as Choral Scholar,  read economics and politics. He stayed on for an MA in Middle Eastern Politics and became a Lay Clerk at the cathedral. 

John Paul was already sure of his calling as a priest, and that was affirmed early on by the church – but he was young, and it was thought that he should ‘go get experience...’ He therefore served as Chaplain for Mission to Seafarers in Dunkirk and Southampton – work that he learned from but did not love. He went, at last, to Westcott to train for ordination, and to read Theology at Trinity College Cambridge. John Paul loved study, and theology, and especially Patristics – big ideas, and tidy systems, explore the mystery of God. He both loved Westcott and was sometimes overwhelmed by it – and just before he would have been ordained, he took a break – and went to sing again, as a Lay Clerk in Guildford.  

Next, he went home to Durham – to study Augustine this time, and to play the organ at Castle. It was then that he met Liz, and they married at Durham, before he went again to prepare for ordination at Cuddeston.  

He was ordained Deacon at Derby Cathedral in 2007, Priested the following year, and served his curacy in Bakewell. John Paul had a good training incumbent, and loved Derbyshire itself, especially once the border terriers had come along and he and Rosie would explore the hillsides together.  

In 2011 he became Bishop’s Chaplain for Michael Perham, the Bishop of Gloucester. Michael was a crucial role model, mentor, and friend. In Gloucester, life was at last falling into place, and in the stability of that, John Paul and Liz welcomed their daughter.  

John Paul stayed on as Chaplain to see the diocese through transition, when Bishop Michael retired, and for Bishop Rachel’s first year. He then moved back into parish ministry in Winchombe.  

John Paul became Precentor here in January 2022 – and was so very proud of this music department, both on the ‘big days’ (like the Royal Maundy or the Three Choirs broadcast) and in the daily offering of skill and faithfulness and beauty. The English Choral tradition rooted his life and gave him joy – and he cared deeply about keeping the tradition alive.