A FORMER broadcaster is putting his skills to good use by creating podcasts for his parish church.

Headington resident Mike Stranks spent 43 years working in “religious broadcasting” for hospital radio, charities, BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Oxford.

Now he is turning his hand to broadcasting programmes on the lives of parishioners at CS Lewis’s parish church, Holy Trinity, in Headington Quarry.

The father-of-three said: “It’s by no means a new idea.

“The Headington Baptist Church did a radio magazine programme so we’re not pretending we’re unique.

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“But in the modern world we’re increasingly moving away from paper and most people are using online forms of accessing content.

“Also, with the connection of CS Lewis to our church, people are always wondering what the church was like in the past.

“I want to show people that our church is a vibrant community now and there are a lot of things going on here.”

Holy Trinity Church was built in 1849 and CS Lewis worshipped there for more than 30 years while he was living nearby at The Kilns.

Mr Stranks, who also organisesorganised historic walks in Headington, added: “The podcast isn’t exclusive. My hope is that people might stumble across it and find it interesting, as well as members of the parish.”

Roz Smith, Oxfordshire county councillor for Headington and Quarry and a worshipper at Holy Trinity Church, said: “I think it’s a great idea to do a podcast. There are a lot of interesting characters in Quarry; maybe I can point some of them out to Mike.”

In the first podcast Mr Stranks interviewed parishioner Kevin Masters, who was given a volunteer award for his work with The Archway Foundation.

The Archway Foundation, established in 1982, is a charity that works with socially isolated people and others struggling with loneliness.

In the podcast Mr Masters talks about how he became involved in the charity through his own mental health issues and why he started volunteering.

Mrs Smith added: “It’s great that Mike has highlighted the good work of Archway, which is a very worthy charity in Oxford.”

Mr Stranks, who also operates the website for Holy Trinity Church, said: “It’s early days as the first podcast only went out last Monday, but if I hear an interesting story in the parish I’ll conduct an interview and post a podcast about it.

“It there are things, like a mid-week talk series, going on in the church I can also try and promote that beforehand by interviewing the people involved.”

For more information and to listen to the first podcast visit hthq.org.uk/podcasts.html