Craig is a fabulous addition to our team and we cant wait to get to know him. Read on to learn more about him."I was born and grew up in the north west of England and studied law initially at Newcastle University which led to me working as a solicitor for 15 years (including a year working for a firm located in the Australian outback!). However, I experienced a growing restlessness with my sense of purpose and vocation after a number of years and, inspired by doing voluntary chaplaincy work at Manchester prison, retrained for the ministry at Cranmer Hall, Durham and was ordained in 2014 in the Lichfield diocese. I served my curacy in Penkridge near Stafford, in a semi-rural context of mixed styles and churchmanship. It was an excellent broad based training to prepare me for the future but when the curacy came to an end, I took some time out to look after my mum who was becoming increasingly frail with dementia. This was a very tough time but indirectly led me to going into hospital chaplaincy which I did in December 2019, a few months before Covid! Despite the challenges we all know well, it was a rewarding ministry in many ways, though I always felt it lacked the breadth and diversity of parish ministry I'd always enjoyed as a curate. I'm now thrilled to be starting a new parish adventure with the good folk of Holy Trinity! I'm single but do come with a 4 legged friend - my 12 year old Golden Retriever, Skye who is sort of inherited. She's getting on now but (typical of the breed) still loves to eat and plod! I've always loved sport and played rugby in various amateur clubs till into my late 30s. I then got the 'running bug' and completed a number of marathons and half marathons before recurrent injuries put paid to that. I now just plod too and naturally also like to eat! I'm a better eater than maker but it is fun every now and then to cook for others (as long as it's not Christmas dinner (disaster!!) I love long walks in the beautiful countryside, mountains, lakes and the coast. In September I completed `Wainwright's Coast to Coast' walk and I was certainly quick to pick up on the fact that the route passes through an area not too far from Darlington! Lastly, I enjoy the cinema and a good crime drama on tv, as well as the theatre. I've been known to do a bit of am dram (though not for some time) and did a week's placement with the Christian theatre company, `Riding Lights' whilst at college."
