Ordination services with a difference have been held across the Diocese of Carlisle – the Church of England in Cumbria – as Covid restrictions forced changes.

Three separate Ordination of Deacons services were held at Carlisle Cathedral on Saturday, each with a maximum of 30 people in attendance.

In a first for the diocese, all three were livestreamed to the diocesan and cathedral Facebook pages. They can also be viewed on the Diocese’s YouTube channel.

Those Deaconed were:

n Andrew Callaway to serve Solway Plain Mission Community

n Lawrence Basham to serve Keswick Mission Community

n Gill Davidson to serve Cockermouth Team Area and Grasmoor Mission Community

n Duncan Jackson to serve the Benefice of Egremont and Haile

n Jane Nattrass to serve Central Lakes Mission Community

n Nina Orchard to serve Two Rivers Mission Community

n Victoria Sekasi to serve Two Valleys Mission Community

The Bishop of Carlisle, the Right Reverend James Newcome, officiated at each of the services, and the Bishop of Penrith, the Right Reverend Dr Emma Ineson preached.

Bishop James said: “This year, while we’ve had to do things differently, the ordinations remained a joyful celebration.

“We may have been smaller in number, in person, but it was wonderful to know that friends and family were able to join with us all for this special time via our livestreams. Our prayers will continue to be with all those ordained over the last few days and indeed with those to be ordained in coming weeks.”

The seven will serve in mission communities across Cumbria, which are cross-denominational groupings of churches with mission at their centre.

Bishop Emma added: “It was a wonderful privilege to be able to spend time with all of our ordinands in a virtual retreat beforehand and to celebrate alongside them as they step out on their journey of ordained ministry.

“Each service was marked by a sense of intimacy and reverence. They were all extremely moving.”

A deacon is one of the orders of ministry, to which all clergy in the Church of England are admitted. Some remain deacons all their lives but most are ordained priest usually a year after being ordained a deacon. They have a full ministry in the Church of England but unlike priests, cannot preside at the Eucharist, pronounce the absolution or pronounce the Trinitarian blessing.

Deacons focus on a servant ministry, particularly to the poor and marginalised.

Meanwhile there were also three Ordinations of Priest services, all held in the ordinands’ home churches. Those ordained were:

n Madeline Simpson to serve the Benefice of Ulverston

n Craig Bentley to serve the Benefice of Natland and the Benefice of Old And New Hutton

n Fran Parkinson to serve the Benefice of High Westmorland

And in coming weeks the following shall also be ordained Priest at services in their home churches:

n Peter Dixon to serve the Benefice of Holme Eden and Wetheral

n Duncan Jackson to serve the Benefice of Egremont and Haile

Yorkshireman Lawrence Basham, 48, of the Keswick Mission Community moves to the Diocese of Carlisle from the Wharfedale area of Otley and Ilkley. Having run three successful greengrocers, he chose to give the businesses up when he came to faith in his mid-30s, becoming the Director of Youth, Children’s and Families’ Ministry at All Saints, Ilkley, before training for ordination at the Sheffield campus of St Hild College.

Andrew Callaway, of the Solway Plain Mission Community, starts his curacy as a long career in teaching comes to an end with retirement, having taught at St Benedict’s School in Whitehaven and Solway Community College in Silloth among other schools.

Gill Davidson of the Cockermouth Team Area Mission Community has continued to manage a Christian residential care home during Covid-19, while also completing her ordination training. She has lived in west Cumbria for most of her life, and became a nurse practitioner in general practice before becoming practice manager of a GP surgery and later manager of the Emmaus House Residential Home on the outskirts of Whitehaven.

She came back to church after completing an Alpha Course in 2003 and has been an active member of All Saints Cockermouth, completing two years’ ordination training with Cumbria Christian Learning.

Duncan Jackson of the Benefice of Egremont and Haile was born in Essex and having lived in the east end of London, moved to west Cumbria in his 20s.

As a waste management consultant – with a specialty in radioactive waste – he has previously worked at Sellafield and the West Lakes Research Institute. His work also saw him seconded to BP where he supported development of the oil and petroleum projects in Azerbaijan. Back in Cumbria he has also worked closely with Eden Nuclear and Environment as their Technical Director. He has three grown up children. Duncan trained as an Anglican Reader in 1994, serving his home benefice of Gosforth, Nether Wasdale and Wasdale Head. He now lives in Egremont and considers his home church to be Haile. Already having a degree in Theology, Duncan has completed a one-year fast-track training programme through Cumbria Christian Learning.

Jane Nattrass of the Central Lakes Mission Community has lived for most of her life in Kendal and has been married to her husband, Julian, for 38 years. They have three grown up children and five grandchildren.

Starting her working life as a nurse, Jane later became a specialist attachment support worker in a school. She then completed a teaching degree and taught for nine years at Long Marton Primary School. Jane later became the administrator for St Mary’s Church in Ambleside.