Rector of the Clarendon Churches.
I joined the Clarendon Churches in April 2019 having moved from Shaftesbury Dorset. I have a love of rural ministry and the way church life and village life blur enabling the church to be active in the community and the community to know that the church is there whenever they need it.
I was ordained in 2002 in Salisbury, so people ask me what I did before I became a ‘vicar’, and what is my PhD is in: well… I studied for my PhD at Liverpool University in Electronics. After my study, I joined with a colleague and started our own business back in 1991. Designing computer Vision Systems from the ideas of our research. We specialised in high speed Vision Systems, which are special computers that are connected to video cameras that are then able to process the images from the cameras. These systems were then integrated into a wide range of other companies’ control equipment to perform tasks such as remote inspection, robotic guidance, banking systems and production systems to name but a few. But in 2000, through answers to prayer and much discernment, I started training for the priesthood, and was ordained at Salisbury in 2002.
I am passionate about how people relate to God: that in understanding themselves and knowing their own personality gives them insights to understanding and relating to God. I have a love of liturgy and collective worship and my spirituality is routed in music, prayer and the Eucharist. I am married to Jenny, we have Grace 7, and Arthur 6. I play the Bassoon, design celtic knotwork, have a 1976 VW bay-window campervan, and a 1966 beetle which you will see me out and about in the parishes, if not on my bike. We also have three cats, six chickens – Oh and I am still interested in computers and electronics, not so much designing them but getting them to work for me and for God. So I am the ‘Webmaster’ for this site.
In the Clarendon Churches I have oversight of Winterslow All Saints, Winterslow St John’s, Farley and Pitton. I am also a member of the diocesan communications group, a Associate Vocations Coordinator in the diocese, and also a foundation governor of Winterslow Primary School.
I can be contacted at:
eMail: simon@ClarendonCofE.org
Tel: 01980 862231
The Rectory
Winterslow
Salisbury
Sp5 1RE