Paraguay to Horncastle - it's a curate's tale!

Most people arrive in Horncastle by the number five bus or - if they are very lucky - via the A158. However, the Rev Samantha Parsons took a slightly more circuitous route... via Paraguay!
Horncastle's new curate, the Rev Samantha Parsons. Photo: Bob Wayne EMN-161108-084359001Horncastle's new curate, the Rev Samantha Parsons. Photo: Bob Wayne EMN-161108-084359001
Horncastle's new curate, the Rev Samantha Parsons. Photo: Bob Wayne EMN-161108-084359001

She is the newly installed curate for the Horncastle Group of Parishes whose base is the town’s historic St Mary’s Church.

Rev Parsons admits she has led a cosmopolitan life, which has included several years spent in South America.

She has also lived in several different places in the UK.

Rev Parsons says: “ I studied geography and languages at university in Scotland and then trained as a teacher and taught in Lincoln before heading out to Paraguay with an Anglican mission agency.

“It was a memorable 14 years teaching in an Anglican school and teacher training college and working with education programmes with disadvantaged children and indigenous communities.

“My final three years were spent with a Christian charity as an educator in a children’s home.

“I met my husband Rupert at missionary training college before venturing out to Paraguay. He eventually joined me and we served there together.”

The couple returned to Lincolnshire three years ago and the Rev Parsons went to Cranmer Hall in Durham for her ordination training.

She is keen to put down firm foundations in Horncastle, adding: “After my ordination as deacon in June, I began my curacy. I am excited to be working with such warm, kind and experienced people who I am learning so much from. It’s wonderful to have a role that is community focused.”