COMING to Bramcote is going to feel a little bit like coming home for Paul and Alison Reynolds. Paul (51) trained at St John’s College and was on placement at the City Hospital as well as at
All Saints Huthwaite, where he learned his trade under Canon Peter Hill, the newly appointed Archdeacon of Nottingham.
St Michael’s was the setting for the practical aspects of his course – what he describes as “the how-to-baptise-a baby-without-dropping-it” element of parish ministry. Alison, who was licensed as a Reader
in 1996, studied at the college for her Certificate in Theology. The couple enjoyed “two very happy years” at St John’s and remember a strong sense of community in Harris Road, where they lived. In a curious
way, Paul found the “leafy, suburby” feel of Bramcote not unlike Fulham, where he was born and brought up.
He was a mature student: though he had studied at the London Bible College and sensed an early call to ordination, he had gone on to pursue a successful career in management consultancy, specialising in information technology.
Paul believes that the time he spent in the secular workplace has given him valuable experience in developing his subsequent ministry.
It was Peter Hill who nudged Paul towards the ministry, and he was ordained in Chester Cathedral in 1992. He was a curate in Hyde, Manchester, for four years before combining the role of priest-in-charge of the rural parish of Delamere
and the job of assistant and then acting director of parish support and development for Chester Diocese - work that made full use of his training and consultancy skills.
It involved support of parishes during times of interregnum, or where they were going through difficult times, perhaps, or anticipating starting a new phase of their ministry. “It was a broad remit of training and support,
designed to help people take their call to discipleship seriously as a community,” he says.
Since becoming Vicar of St Chad’s, Handforth, in 2000, he has continued to do a small amount of training and consultancy work for the Diocese and for other organisations, including CPAS, where he has trained regional consultants,
and for the Royal Army Chaplains Department, where he has trained chaplains from all three services.
He advises parishes on the installation of audio visual systems and in his spare time, enjoys designing commercial websites for his friends.
It will be a huge wrench for Paul and Alison to leave St Chad’s – a church that over the decades has been instrumental in bringing two communities together: the largely middle-class and professional community that grew up
when the old village of Handforth became a ribbon development into Wilmslow, and the two big overspill estates that came into being with a huge influx of people from Manchester in the 1960s.
The church runs a coffee shop, Oasis, on one of the estates – “sandwiched between a poodle parlour, a chiropractor and Bargain Booze,” Paul says cheerfully, describing the coffee shop as “a kind of halfway house to church.”
Its drop-in nature answered a need that arose when the council were refurbishing the estate houses and the residents had nowhere to go in the daytime while the builders were in.
They have Songs of Praise in there at major festivals, and prayer ministry for anyone who asks for it. “All the old suspicions of church as posh and middle class have disappeared,” Paul says with satisfaction.
He describes the St Chad’s congregation as “a lovely bunch of people – generous, honest and open, and full of love and support. They’re typical north-westerners, who call a spade a JCB.
The broad social mix we have here is a real sign of Christian community – it’s who you are and not what you do or what you’ve got that matters.”
The church had suffered a split 18 months before Paul’s arrival, losing around 45 worshippers, largely charismatic. A process of healing and reconciliation has
unified it and brought it back on to an even keel for a new phase of its ministry in a very supportive community.
Alison is well used to parish life, having been brought up in a 15th century rectory on the Sussex coast, where her father was rector of a small parish between Brighton and Worthing.
She is a professional musician, who trained as a classical pianist at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and at Manchester University. She has worked as a piano teacher and
accompanist at independent schools in London, Nottingham and Manchester, and also teaches in the RNCM’s Junior department, work she will be continuing after the move to Bramcote.
The couple met at their church in London and married in 1981. They have no children but have at various times “given a home to several guinea pigs, the most recent pair being currently
on more or less permanent loan to a friend as therapy after she suffered a serious illness.” Paul’s idea of relaxation is photography, woodworking, music and keeping his computer skills up to date.
He describes himself as “a recent convert to gardening.”
Music is Alison’s hobby as well as her profession. She is currently taking viola lessons “and loving every minute of it” – and hopes to find time to join a local orchestra when settled.
She also enjoys ballet – “watching rather than performing these days”- reading and gardening.
“We are very much looking forward to joining you all at St Michael’s and excited about what the future holds for us all,” Paul concludes. “We will be praying for you (are you ready for a vicar who supports Chelsea?)
and would be glad of your prayers for us as we move and as Alison seeks work as a piano teacher locally.
“We are also grateful for your thoughts and prayers for our parish here. The next few months will be a time of considerable change for them too.”
Paul & Alison