"This time last year I was preparing to attend a Bishops' Advisory Panel, and I am now looking forward with great excitement to my first Easter School, to be held this year at Durham from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. I was accepted for ordination training on the Yorkshire Ministry Course to be a self supporting minister in my home benefice. The Yorkshire Ministry Course enables me to combine paid work and training. I work in the neighbouring village, which is also part of my benefice, at Nunnington Hall, a National Trust property, as a catering supervisor.
"I feel blessed to work in such a beautiful place, part of a small team meeting and offering hospitality to visitors from all over the country, and working for an organisation that cares for the local environment. Working locally gives me another perspective on local concerns, but also wonderful opportunities to connect my colleagues' stories to the Gospel narrative. I believe the distinctive strength of local ministry is that we are embedded in our parishes and neighbourhood, part of the warp and weft of our community, always listening and available; to care for the vulnerable, the ill and the bereaved, but also to share in the times of joy and celebration.
"To be part of the Yorkshire Ministry Course is a tremendous privilege. The intensity and joy of the new insights that the studying has given me has taken my breath a way. So far, and only six months into the course, we have studied the New Testament, Christian Theology, and the Theology of Mission. We have had a Preaching Workshop and a Leading Worship Workshop. We are all coming to the close of our first placement. Generally you go to a parish of a different tradition to have the chance to experience a different context of being "Anglican”. The people training on the YMC are from all over Yorkshire, young adults and those with life experience, from different church traditions, split equally between male and female, and from a wide range of employment backgrounds - nursing, medicine, teaching and engineers.
"The whole experience is stimulating, challenging, fellowship and a shared journey. It is demanding, and it is essential to plan and manage your time well to accommodate study, work and family life. I have found that my work colleagues are really interested in my journey, and my line manager, has been particularly accommodating, allowing me to reduce my hours to the equivalent of a day a week during term time.
"I feel very blessed to be in my fifties to have this amazing opportunity to following my vocation to proclaim the Good News, and will endeavour with God's help, to approach it with all my heart, mind, soul and strength."
