We now meet Lydia Avery, our priest at St Peter’s

When did you move to Forncett?

In 2019. I was a priest in Winscombe, Somerset and saw an advert for the job of priest at the Upper Tas Valley benefice. It appealed to me because an important part of the role was developing relationships between the church, four schools, families and children.

Why did this appeal to you?

I was ordained in 2008, but before that I ran a consultancy training people to be adult education tutors and others working as playworker and early years educators, so the idea that much of the work I would be doing was focussed on children was a big attraction.

Soon after arriving, I discovered that it was still possible to continue my interest in the church’s response to climate change when I was invited to become part of the Diocese of Norwich Environmental Working Group. The Group is active in helping churches reach net Zero Carbon emissions by 2030 and becoming Eco-Churches – which involveslooking at all aspects of churches from simple things like using eco-friendly cleaning products, to better energy management.  It’s exciting to know that the churches in the Upper Tas Valley Group, including the churches in Forncett, are working towards Eco-Church status with one about toget the Eco-Church Silver Award.

So, you applied and were offered the job – what have you enjoyed most about it?

Without doubt, it’s been the people – everyone has been so welcoming and supportive. That’s the joy of my job. Over the years there have been so many joyful occasions and I’ve been lucky enough to get to know many generations of the same families for events such as weddings, baptisms and of course, sadly, funerals.

The great sadness of my time in Forncett has been COVID. It’s affected so many lives and has meant that we’ve not been able to have the face-to-face contact that over the years I’ve found to be so important. It’s good that we are at last getting back to some sort of normality.

And what are your hopes for St Peters?

I can see a great future for St Peters. There’s so much support from the community and with the extra creativity and imagination this brings, there is every possibility of a truly dynamic future for both the church and community as they work together. If we look back to how churches were part of their communities in the past, I can see something similar happening in the future. St Peters could run a dementia café and be a hub for many other activities. There are even churches that run shops and licensed bars!

And sadly Lydia, we’re going to lose you next year as you head off into retirement.

Yes, Chris and I will be moving back to Somerset just after Easter, but we’ll be taking with us some lovely memories of our time in Norfolk. My last service is on 23^rd April.

What are your plans?

We hope to travel and catch up with family and friends – the rest is an unknown adventure!

Thank you for all the great work you’ve done in the area and best wishes for a full and fun-filled retirement!