THERE was a warm welcome for a new priest in Launceston last week.

A service at St Mary Magdalene’s Church on Wednesday evening saw the Rev Alison Hardy licensed by Bishop Chris Goldsmith.

Alison had been curate for the Stratton Deanery, and as well as being welcomed by the Launceston community, she said many from the Stratton Deanery also attended the service to cheer her on.

A farmer from just outside Holsworthy, Alison left her family farm in 2014 in order to take up a full time curacy in north Cornwall.

Alison said: “Sheep were always my special interest having trained at agricultural college in lowland sheep production. After getting married, my husband Chris and I started farming on my parents’ land before buying our own farm and then taking over my parents’ land as well. Leaving the family was hard, leaving the livestock almost as hard!”

Alison’s journey from farm life to church life began when she was a teenager. “It was discovered I could play the piano and so the village church asked me to play their harmonium for services.”

Alison did spend time away from the church while she was at college but after having her first child she returned. “I think it’s the responsibility of having a child. Then over the years I became more involved, joining the PCC and encouraging the children and youth to have a voice and grow their faith.”

It was around seven years before being ordained as a priest in Truro Cathedral in 2015, that Alison felt God was calling her to grow her own faith further and become a priest. “It was quite a difficult thought. My rector had mentioned it to me but I’d brushed it off with a comment about not wanting to give up my modern clothing! But then I heard God saying ‘Why are you worrying about what you are going to wear when this is what I am calling you to do?’ Having sat down and analysed it, I realised it wasn’t such a big step from what I was already doing in leading services.”

Alison was able to leave the running of the farm to her husband and youngest daughter, who had also studied at agricultural college, when she moved to Bude to undertake her curacy, organising her time off so that she was back on the farm for the key management periods: lambing, weaning, tupping, shearing and scanning.

She said of being licensed at Launceston last week: “It’s a special occasion for everyone when there is a new parish priest for the town and the churches and I had a wonderful warm welcome. It’s a fantastic community in Launceston.”