Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2006 | Page 28

INTERVIEW

We asked
Charles some key
questions about
the Isle of Wight
Windmills:

“My message to the people of
Wellow is that it’s not their
countryside. The hills belong
to all the Island. The 150ft
windmills could provide a shop
window for the technology we
have here, as well as employment
and training opportunities for
young people. When people
say it will ruin tourism, that’s
rubbish – the windmills will
become part of the tourist route!”

Charles became a
fisher of men!
He’s been an ambulance driver, a fisherman, businessman and youth worker - so
Independent councillor Charles Hancock has never been far from life’s tough
realities.
It comes as something of a surprise, then, when this solidly-grounded
representative for the Island’s Osborne ward begins describing his intensely
emotional experience of “finding God”.

On tourism:

somebemusementamongthetough
ambulancemen he was working
with at the time, in Winchester
– and not a little alarm from his
family, none of whom had the
slightest connection with religious
life.
“I was a shop steward at the
ambulance station” he recalls, “and
in fact along with the other lads, I
had even taunted one guy who was
involved with the church.
“The people at work told me to
take six weeks off because they
thought I was having a breakdown.
“But gradually the other guys
realised I wasn’t faking because it
had changed my whole outlook on
life”.

We are not big enough for a
Disney-type park but maybe
something along the lines of
the Eden project would be
possible. We seem to be very
good at undervaluing and underestimating what we’ve got and
we need to appreciate it more.
If we do that, we will make
more of it ... but as for Disney
on the Island, I don’t think so”

On Christians as
Councillors:

There are other Christians in the
council but I wish there were
more. If the churches on the
Isle of Wight could get their act
together and get Christians to
stand for election, we’d see some
real breakthroughs. There’s
a huge difference between
Christianity and religion. If
the churches here would find
their voice, what a difference
that could make. There might
be more trust in the council.

On local politics:

The saddest thing about local
government is the politics. If
only independent people were
voted to govern, you’d have a
better island because they would
act from the heart. I believe I’m
there for a purpose – to do my
best for those who’ve elected me.

28

“Called” to the Island

Charles Hancock talks unashamedly
of spending days in tears, wondering
what on earth was wrong with
him,before having what he describes
as a personal experience of Christ
in the middle of a field ... and then
literally leaping over fences in \™^