New Team Rector Installed

The Rev’d Jeremy Trew was instituted as the new Team Rector of the Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry by the Bishop of Colchester the Rt Rev’d Roger Morris and inducted and installed by the Archdeacon of Stansted, the Venerable Robin King on 3rd March 2021 at St Mary’s Church, Saffron Walden. Jeremy was also commissioned as the Area Dean of Saffron Walden Deanery by Archdeacon Robin.
See the service on YouTube: https://youtu.be/r-TAWV-r8yo   -  Order of service available here.

We are delighted that the Rev’d Jeremy Trew has joined us as Team Rector of the Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry and Area Dean of Saffron Walden.

Jeremy was formerly serving as the vicar of St Gregory’s, Seaton and St Michael’s, Beer in Devon and was until recently Rural Dean.

Jeremy started life in Environmental Engineering and after ordination served his curacy in Leeds and then was the vicar of a group of parishes between Harrogate and York before moving to Devon. He has been ordained 23 years.

Jeremy is married to Alison, who trained as a biochemist and currently works for a charity promoting science teaching in primary schools. Their two daughters, Eleanor and Rachel are both at university, studying Architecture and Business respectively.
 
Click here to watch this 10 minute video in which Jeremy Trew introduces himself and explains some of the things that are important to him.




 

Jeremy Trew wrote shortly after his appointment in November 2020:

Dear friends,

Journeys can be strange affairs and can have even stranger beginnings.  My journey to ordination began in a university bar late one night when a Sikh student I knew said to a friend of mine; “He’s not going to be a scientist.  He’s going to be a vicar or summit”.  They meant it kindly. This year has been a strange journey for all of us; as we have had to adjust how we live our lives; as we have had to accommodate to regular and maybe unwelcome changes; and, as we have had to work out our faith in new and sometimes challenging ways.  One feature I have got used to is planning some resources or event only to have to bin my work when guidelines change and start afresh, and sometimes more than once.  It’s tiring.  However, I am very glad, and much energised, that the journey of these years, and this year in particular, has brought me to this place.  
 
Interviews were held under Tier 2 restrictions.  So, my thanks to all who worked so hard, not only to allow candidates to see so much of what goes on in Saffron Walden and in the wider Team and Deanery, but to ensure it was all done with care and with an eye for each person’s safety.  I left enthused, and hoping that the phone call from the Archdeacon would not be along the lines of; “They liked you, but…”  Thankfully it wasn’t and I was very glad to accept the offer and look forward to coming and serving with you.  The joy of that news was tempered by the sad news of Rev’d Tim just a few days later.  He seemed such a committed and warm priest, and my thoughts and prayers have been with those who knew him best.  With Tim, as with Covid, we Christians are called to live in resurrection hope.

Alison and Jeremy with daughters Rachel and Eleanor. Click to enlarge.

The plan at the moment is to move to Saffron Walden in February for a start at the beginning of March.  Moving with me will be Alison, my wife.  We met at an interview at Leeds University where I gave Alison the job, thinking she wouldn’t cause me too many problems!  Maybe I’m not always a good judge of character, as we have been married now for twenty-four years.  Alison has gone from being a biochemist involved in post-doctoral research, to full-time child-wrangler, to primary school teacher, and now works for a charity promoting and supporting  science teaching in primary schools.  Joining us in the holidays will be our two daughters, Eleanor and Rachel, who are both currently at university, studying Architecture and Business respectively.

After a brief career in Environmental Engineering research I was recommended for ordination.  Wanting to ensure this wasn’t a colossal mistake I then spent two years as a lay-assistant in an inner-city parish in Nottingham.  It was a transformative experience and helped me learn that God can be found in the most surprising circumstances, busy at work and waiting for the Church to catch up.  I then went to theological college, but ended up spending a large amount of my time working for the local BBC radio station.  Most of my essays were shaped considerably by the interviews I was able to conduct, being given a relatively free hand to poke my nose in where it interested me.  

From there it was a curacy in a large church in a smart Leeds suburb, encountering all the issues I had found in the inner-city, just better dressed and with the camouflage of wealth, before moving onto my first incumbency with a group of commuter-rural churches between Harrogate and York.  After that we moved south to Devon, where I am currently Vicar of two Parishes, until recently Rural Dean, and have served on a variety of Diocesan Boards.  

My key interest in the churches I have served has been to respond to our changing times and challenges by creating, training and supporting a broad ministry of lay and ordained that serves not only the church community, but listens to the wider parish and responds faithfully as best as it is able.  In my current post this has meant working across churches of varying traditions to enable what we cannot do ourselves, and supporting individuals and communities through the challenges of change.  I have been ordained twenty-three years and cannot image anything I would rather be doing.
 
For myself, I am a keen photographer and love going for long walks in the countryside and along the coast.  With Alison I garden.  She is the brains and I’m the unpaid labourer it has to be said.  But, I do enjoy cooking, especially when it is our own produce washed down with a bottle of our homemade wine.
 
I hope that knowing that a new Team Rector is on their way will be an encouragement to you, just as knowing that I am moving to Saffron Walden is to me.  Please be assured that your people - churches and communities - are in my prayers each day.

With love and best wishes

Jeremy

13th November 2020