The new vicar of the Inglewood group of churches has described returning to Cumbria as being like “coming home”.
The Rev Dr Allison Fenton was appointed priest in charge at a licensing at St Mary’s Church, High Hesket, last month.
“I think it’s a privilege to lead people in worship with God and to see their faith developing,” she said. “I think the thing that I can see that’s followed me, the thread through my life, is I really want to encourage people to ask good questions about what’s going on, about what it all means.”
Allison was a secondary school English and religious studies teacher when she felt a strong calling to ordained ministry.
Living in Durham at the time, she trained at Cranmer Hall in 2006 and was ordained in Newcastle Diocese.
She had roles in Jesmond, Shieldfield and Battlefield and Scotswood, all in Newcastle, and then went to three parishes in Durham.
During her time at Durham, Allison was writing her doctorate, where she researched baptism.
She next came to Penrith, to work for the Diocese of Carlisle as vice-principal, where she had responsibility for the training of curates and ordinands.
Her role changed and she took on the responsibility for lay ministry, working across the whole county.
During this time, Allison and her husband, Jonny Lawrence, lived in the church house in Skelton. She said she got to know the area well and began helping out by taking services at the local churches.
Allison then moved to Birmingham, taking up a role as a tutor in charge of Anglican admissions at The Queen’s Foundation.
“I think I missed home, which is interesting because I’m not from Cumbria, I’m from Newcastle, but I really feel like Cumbria is home,” she said. “I had a really strong sense of calling back to serve the parishes in the Inglewood Group.”
Allison is still working one day a week for The Queen’s Foundation, where she is leading research on neurodivergence within the church.
Allison and Jonny now live in the vicarage in Plumpton, which has been made eco-friendly, with the installation of an air source heat pump and solar panels.
