At Your Service: Moving with the times

LIKE the At Your Service column itself, the Church of England is marking a tenth anniversary - exactly a decade since the first women were ordained priest and (if the phrase may be permitted) church people of both sexes had their knickers in a twist about it.

The column's old mum's only last wish was that her funeral should be taken by a feller. Others reacted similarly; some still do. Over my dead body, as it were.

Sue Giles was among the very first group, simultaneously ordained by the Bishop of Bristol while a chaplain at the city's prison.

Free at last? "I don't think of myself as a trail blazer or among the first particularly. It just so happened that I was there, an accident of time and place."

Now she's priest in charge of Holy Trinity, an attractive modern church serving the Fairfield and Hartburn areas of Stockton and also chaplain - officially for a third of her time - to the nearby Ian Ramsey secondary school, named after a former Bishop of Durham.

"There were a few people here who hadn't wanted a woman priest and that was a sadness," she admits. "I went to see them, but they decided to look for a home elsewhere."

And the lads in HM Prison, where once unimagined doors were being opened? It didn't cause a great deal of stir, she says, probably without realising the pent-up play on words.

"They were introducing female prison officers and quite a few probation officers were women. Most of the men probably hardly noticed."

She grew up in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, knew at university that she wanted somehow to serve the church, became a deaconess in 1983 but without prospect at the time of joining the men of England in the priesthood.

"Occasionally it was frustrating, sometimes it was painful, but it was quite an important experience because it taught me that there are other forms of ministry in the Church and that the ministry of lay people is just as important as that of priests.

"I didn't think that because I wasn't able to be a priest, what I was doing was somehow second rate, and I hope that still applies."

Now a 45-year-old mother of three, married to the regional director of the Cheshire Homes charity, she came to Stockton three years ago partly because it was closer to her elderly parents, partly because she'd spent enough time in prison - that's her phrase, too - and partly because she needed a new challenge.

Holy Trinity was built in Upsall Grove in 1991, formally consecrated six years later, stands next to the school of the same name and is a multi-purpose building particularly appreciated because of its acoustics by music and operatic groups.

The badminton club, however, may have to meet elsewhere.

The only problem with these thus pewless places isn't that there's nowhere to kneel - churches these days spend little time on their knees - but that unless the next chair is free there's often nowhere to put the day's necessaries.

The next chair is taken by a cheerful chap in brown boots who'd road tested several local churches before finding Holy Trinity most to his liking. "It moves with the times," he says and now there's even a group for children before and after primary school. It's called the Boomerang Club, perhaps because they keep on coming back.

Around 90 are present on Sunday morning, the choir fetchingly attired, old and new blending easily in eight hymns and a splendidly upbeat Gloria.

The liturgy is modern, succinct and clear, the sermon - by Bill Glasper, one of three lay readers attached to the church - is on love, the day's theme marking the beginning of Christian Aid Week, they who believe in life before death.

Sue prays for a changing world, among other things for those who use violence and who hate their neighbour. A screen flashes images - "for those of you who find such things helpful when praying".

"She's very busy, always on the go, lovely with children but I think takes on a little bit too much at times," says George Coward, one of the churchwardens.

"There might have been one or two misgivings about a woman at first, but now I think everyone appreciates her."

Mike Eeles, his fellow warden, says that Sue's very down to earth. "I find her very approachable, very comfortable to talk to and not just about the church and religion.

"The fact that she's a woman doesn't make any difference now, She just happens to be a lady priest, a priest who's a lady."

Sue's much in demand after the service, not least by warring offspring who've been running the Fair Trade stall at the back. She's really enjoying the job, she says.

"I think the people of Holy Trinity spent quite a long time choosing who their new priest should be. I'm very glad they chose me."

* A service to mark the tenth anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood takes place in Durham Cathedral at 2pm on Saturday May 29. Speakers include the Rt Rev David Jenkins, the former Bishop of Durham, and Christina Rees, national chairman of Women and The Church. The celebrant is Canon Carolyn Dick. Principal Sunday service at Holy Trinty, Fairfield, Stockton is at 10am.

How to becone well-versed

CHAPTER and verse, a gentleman in Blackwell, Darlington has responded to last week's column on the "Smarber" weekend in Arkengarthdale. Chiefly it's celebrated in memory of Philip, Lord Wharton who on his death in 1696 subscribed a Bible Trust.

Our correspondent's wife won a "Wharton" bible 60 years ago, having successfuly recited from memory the first, 15th, 25th, 37th, 101st, 113rd and 145th psalms.

A little bit of mental arithmetic suggests that that's 111 verses. Psalm achievement, as they might have said at the time.

The inscription inside the cover quotes from Proverbs 10:7 - "The memory of the just is blessed" - though whether a reference to Lord Wharton's memory or that of the poor souls who had to remember 111 scriptural verses, we have been wholly unable to discover.