The Revd Canon Andrew Dotchin is vicar of the Kesgrave and Fynn Valley Churches, in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich. He was ordained in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa in 1984, after training for ministry at the Federal Theological Seminary in Imbali Township outside Pietermaritzburg – an inter-denominational multi-racial institution with a long history of standing against Apartheid. He has served in parishes in Mpumalanga Province and the Transvaal and was a school chaplain in Johannesburg. On returning to the Church of England he has served in rural, estate and seaside parishes in his home Diocese in Suffolk. He is a long-term member of General Synod and is a Franciscan Tertiary. Before ordination he worked as an Industrial Chemist in fields as varied as pharmaceuticals and confectionary, geological analysis and printing ink technology.
He was ‘known’ to the South African Police for his anti-apartheid activities and actively promoted the ordained ministry of women and Black people in the South African Church. In the United Kingdom he is involved in the work of the National Hate Crime Awareness Week and the work of the group 17-24-30 which raises awareness about all types of Hate Crime in England.
Andrew has strong links with Suffolk Pride and is a chaplain and a champion for Inclusion amongst the Royal Air Force Cadets and was among the first to publicly bless a Lesbian couple Civil Partnership in a Church of England service. He is known by those who disagree with him as ‘The Wizard of Woke’ (sometimes insults become compliments) but may be found more easily on Social Media and his blog as SuffolkVicar.