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 I was born in Leicester in 1951, the youngest of three brothers, and brought up in Market Harborough - so I am definitely an East Midlander!
As a youngster the Christian faith always made sense to me, and I was privileged to have many early opportunities to learn about it and to grow as a Christian.
I had "gap years" both before and after university. In the first I worked in Manchester in insurance broking, and the second gave me valuable experience of life on the shop floor in a printing works at Burton-upon-Trent.
I sensed that God was calling me to full-time ministry while at university, and through its selection procedures the Church of England agreed! So I trained for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and it was here that I met Maureen. We were married two years later, shortly after I was ordained.
I served for four years as a curate in Ealing, West London, before becoming vicar of six small country parishes in north Bedfordshire in 1980. During my eleven years there the parishes gained a fresh vision and a new identity as a single unit for worship, mission and ministry, which they retain to this day.
Towards the end of my time in Bedfordshire, I had the opportunity of a 6-month exchange with a vicar in the outer suburbs of Adelaide, in South Australia. My family and I had a wonderful, horizon-broadening (in every sense) time down under! In 1991 I moved to Newhaven, with just one church to look after... However, it contained two congregations, since the Methodist church in the town had closed down twenty years earlier and shared the parish church building.
Once again, when we began to worship together the two congregations soon discovered that we were much stronger together than apart, and the united Anglican/Methodist church which we formed in due course has provided the foundation for substantial growth. I greatly enjoyed being an Authorised Methodist Minister in addition to my duties as Rector.
I moved to Radcliffe on Trent in 1998, and am also vicar of Shelford. I was attracted to Radcliffe as a welcoming church which is deeply involved in the life of the community, both as a church and particularly through its members. Between them I would guess that most of the village organisations are represented in the congregation! I was also struck by the range and quality of the work among children and young people, which I believe to be quite exceptional for a parish church such as ours.
Maureen and I have two grown-up daughters, Rosemary and Elizabeth. They may occasionally be seen in Radcliffe on Trent but are usually elsewhere living their very full lives!
I am a keen motorcyclist and only wish that I had time also to pursue my other outdoor interest, windsurfing, which has been rather blown off the water by the bike! I also enjoy church bellringing, and ring fairly often at the Tuesday evening practice in St Mary’s. It also makes a good excuse for a visit to the pub afterwards.
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