Hereford chaplain reunited with stolen tricycle (From Ledbury Reporter)

Hereford chaplain reunited with stolen tricycle

3:00pm Sunday 17th February 2013 in News By Lydia Johnson

A HEREFORD chaplain has been reunited with his beloved tricycle after it was stolen last month.

Richard Birt took up riding the trike a year-and-a-half ago after doctors told him he could no longer cycle on a normal two-wheel bicycle following a brain operation.

Unsurprisingly the 70-year-old said he was devastated to find that it had been stolen.

But Mr Birt, who served as vicar of Weobley from 1988 to 2000 and is now chaplain at Coningsby Chapel, said he was ‘delighted’ to get a call to say it had been found down by the River Wye in Hereford.

He said: “I can’t believe it. It cost me £475 when I bought it and I thought it was gone forever.

“I can’t drive, so other than public transport it was my only way of getting around.

“I’m just so happy to have it back and am just going to fix it up before I ride it again.”