Ministry Team
Vicar
The Rev'd Norma Fergusson
Associate Vicar
We are very pleased to announce that the Rev’d Canon Paul Richardson will be joining the Benefice as Associate Vicar with special responsibility for Ashbury, Longcot and Fernham later this year.
Paul writes:
I am delighted that those who make these decisions have given me the opportunity to join you all in the Benefice of Shrivenham and Ashbury.
Katriona and I look forward to moving into St Mary’s House, Ashbury in the autumn.
My early years were in a mining village in Northumberland until the age of 8 when my father was ordained, leaving his job in a local factory to start his curacy in the Coquet valley. Here he served villages from Hepple to Pauperhaugh, Rothbury being the centre of the benefice. So I grew up in a rural, largely agricultural community in the foothills of the Cheviots, and with a strong sense of the presence of the ancient Northern saints, St Aidan and St Cuthbert. Moves took the family to Hexham, then to the coastal village of Chevington before I left home to study Botany at University in Cardiff.
During my time as an undergraduate my sense of vocation grew stronger, and I was selected for ordination training at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.
Ministry has led me from a curacy to other posts in North West England, before moving down South to Wiltshire and Salisbury diocese 20 years ago.
In my current post in Devizes, I met Norma and Richard who lived and served in the neighbouring parish of Bromham. It will be a real pleasure to be with them in the ministry team at Shrivenham and Ashbury.
My wife Katriona and I, our two Jack Russell dogs, Rolo and Tala, and our three grown up and “fled the nest” sons look forward to our new life in Oxfordshire.
Licensed Lay Ministers
Lord Rodney Elton and Richard Fergusson
Authorised Minister
Alex Peal
Retired Clergy
Revd Robin Cardwell and Revd Frank Parkinson
The Benefice has a growing lay ministry team who help in all aspects of the churches’ life and mission.
Benefice Administrator and Safeguarding Officer
Lucy Laird
01793 783519 or info@shrivenhamandashbury.co.uk
