Hello everyone! My name is Ewan, and I’m very excited to be able to introduce myself as your new curate, starting this summer. A little bit about me as means of an introduction – I am from Northamptonshire, right on the border with Cambridgeshire, and spent my childhood there before heading off to Birmingham University to read History. After a short time back in Northamptonshire working for Waitrose, I moved to Herefordshire to take part in the “Ministry Experience Scheme” for a year, working with the Bartestree Cross Group and Frome Valley Benefice, immediately east of Hereford right across to the Worcestershire border. Over the course of the year, I went through the selection process for ordination, and am currently finishing off my last of three years training for ministry at St. Stephen’s House in Oxford. I enjoy walking and outdoors pursuits, old books (collecting them seems to happen quicker than reading them), and playing rugby and cricket (both equally poorly…)

The time that I spent in Hereford was one of the happiest years of my life – I fell in love with the county, and I feel exceptionally privileged to be able to return for my curacy. The rural Church of England has so many gifts at its disposal, not least the fantastic community spirit that it fosters and maintains – a huge part of that is the very real sense of connection to the land and parish that stretches back through generations and generations of worshippers. Rural churches have so much to offer the people that attend them, but also so much to offer those who do not yet attend, or perhaps only come every so often.

My big hope for the years that I will be lucky enough to spend with you all is to be a part of a church which helps and serves you – a church that is there to celebrate the wonderful moments of life, and to help you through the more challenging times. I greatly look forward to meeting you all when I move back west in the summer, and becoming part of a church which both worships the Lord in the beauty of holiness, and serves its neighbours with love and generosity.

Ewan Gillings