The Very Revd Nicholas Henshall I am delighted and moved to have been appointed as the parish priest of St Thomas the Apostle New Groombridge. I was born and grew up in Manchester. After school I spent a year as a student in Athens and then went on to study Greek and Latin at university. After a year working in Rome I came back to the UK to study theology and prepare for ordination. I was ordained in 1988 and served for four years in a Northumbrian mining town still living with the recent trauma of the Miners' Strike. Christine and I had met as students and got married at the end of my curacy. We then moved to Scotswood in the west end of Newcastle, one of the most deprived communities in the UK. We spent ten years there and our three children were born there. It was a very happy time in our family life, and the work of a community priest in such a place was deeply rewarding - working with schools, community groups and residents through an immense time of change. Our last two years there were very challenging as the City Council decided to demolish most of the council estate that made up the parish. We spent the next six years in Derby where I was on the staff of the Cathedral as well as working for BBC Radio Derby. Christine started her career as an English teacher in Derby and it was a very lively time for the whole family. We then spent six years serving a large church in Harrogate. I had a range of responsibilities in the Diocese including a year as acting Archdeacon. Through those years I also wrote regularly for the international Catholic weekly, The Tablet, about pastoral and practical theology. Nine years ago we went to Chelmsford, our first experience of the South of England. It was a fascinating time discovering the unique opportunities of Cathedral ministry in a small new city and building a whole range of partnerships. Christine comes from Sunderland and teaches English (11-18) in a large secondary school in Tunbridge Wells. We have three children: Ruth, who is in an English teacher in Glasgow; Lucy, an academic biologist who is just completing her PhD at Aberdeen University; and Ben, an economist, who is Head of Analysis at No 10. Ben was particularly excited about our move to East Sussex as he often visits the High Weald on his bicycle. We also have close family in Sevenoaks and Tonbridge and it will be great to be nearer to them. Beyond the UK we have relatives in France, Switzerland and Slovenia who continue to expand our horizons!
