The appointment

After advertising in the Church Times in April, the Parish Profile (PDF, 3MB) was sent out and a number of applications received for the post of priest-in-charge.

These were short-listed in May and the applicants interviewed in June and, on Sunday 28th June, the Churchwardens were pleased to announce that the post of priest-in-charge had been offered to and accepted by the Reverend Peter Greenwood.

Peter has sent a few words of introduction for Impact which you can also read below.

Message from the Priest-in-Charge Designate

I’ve been catching up with your news through the last few editions of Impact and it’s good to be able to greet you through its pages before meeting you in person in September.

I’ve been the vicar of St James, Silsden, in the diocese of Bradford for the past eight and a half years. I’ve also been Rural Dean of South Craven for the last two years. One of the things I enjoy most about being a priest is becoming part of a community through conducting baptisms, weddings and funerals; worshipping God week by week together; sharing in the lives of our schools; walking the same streets and shopping in the same shops together!

I also enjoy being married to Mandy, whom I met on my first day at University College, London. We’ve been married for nearly 25 years and we have two sons. Thom starts work in September teaching history and politics in a South London secondary school. Shortly after we move, Chris begins his second year at Oxford reading German. We also share our house with a large yellow dog called Harvey!

Before we moved to Silsden, Mandy and I worked in Pakistan with the Church Mission Society where I was the vicar of St Thomas, Islamabad, and Mandy worked as a speech and language therapist in the church’s community health network.

I was born in Yorkshire in 1961, living in Wakefield until I was eighteen. My father and sister still live there, and I have another sister who lives in Tynemouth.

When I’m not working I enjoy going for a run, taking Harvey for a walk, or listening to Bruce Springsteen. We’re regulars at the Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival, although I don’t think we’ll get there this year. I empathise with its laidback but persistent approach to thoughtful Christian living.

I am very much looking forward to getting to know you, and learning with and from you. Together I hope that we will continue to develop good patterns of Christian living and share those with as many people as possible in Gillingham and Milton-on-Stour. Until September!

With prayers and best wishes,