Leigh Lines
4 Sep 2025 • From the Vicar
Hello,
As you know, Rev. Margaret Lowe (formerly Sherwin) is leaving the Uttoxeter Area of Parishes this month and had a farewell service on 31 st August. Margaret has been Area Rector for a little over 9 years and we wish her well in her new post as vicar in Norbury, Cheshire, where she has just the one church to look after (Norbury has 19000 people in it!)
Margaret has been Clergy Lead in Leigh, St. Peter’s Marchington and Kingstone for the past year or more, although due to health issues and then Extended Study Leave, she has not been as obvious a presence as she might have liked. Normally in these situations parishes enter what is called an ‘interregnum’, where parishes don’t have a vicar and they manage by doing even more themselves and borrowing priests and Readers from elsewhere for Sunday services, funerals, baptisms and weddings. However, as the Uttoxeter Area of Parishes is a Team Ministry, we have more people immediately to hand, and so we will try to be as available as possible over the next months. There is already a variety of people leading services and Rev. Jules Walker and myself will make sure that we are as around and about as much as possible.
Each of the churches above has a great PCC, who work hard to nurture pastoral links, organise events, maintain Listed buildings and their churchyards, continue working with the schools, staffing weddings and other services, cleaning the church and so much more. Any support you can give them (and I know lots of you already do what you can) would be much appreciated.
It is difficult to say how long an ‘interregnum’ might last. The diocese will need to decide whether they will replace like-for-like (ie. advertise for a new Area Rector) or whether that is unaffordable in the long-run. Various possibilities will be under discussion, such as a part-time minister for the Area (alongside the two full-time posts) or whether money might be better spent investing in more administration hours.
A minimum of at least 6 months is very likely and 12 months is more realistic, before a new Area Rector is appointed. The post at Rocester, Denstone, Croxden and Hollington remains unfilled after 18 months, for example. However, the message that Jules and I would like to get across is that we are all part of the Uttoxeter Area of Parishes, and Leigh, Marchington and Kingstone will have the full support of a group of dedicated volunteers and paid staff. If you would like to have a chat, book a baptism or wedding or have any ideas about how the church and community can continue to work together, please feel free to get in touch.
Peace and prayers,
Rev. Joe Cant and Rev. Jules Walker