Meet The Curate | Revd Lindsey

Hello.

My name is Lindsey Barber and I am your new curate.  I was ordained priest in June 2022.  I currently live at Coley with my husband Andrew,  his daughter Frankie and our two dogs, Emmi, the ageing border collie, and Thor, the little bulldog.   I have an adult son, Ewan.  My daughter, Olivia is married to Kane and they have a daughter, Harriet who is 18 months old.   Both Ewan and Olivia live in Pontefract, which is where I’m from.

I first felt God calling me to something when I was at school.   Randomly, I thought that a catholic education of Latin and Jesus meant that I was destined to become a nun.  I ignored Him.  After getting on with life, moving 100 miles away, marrying and having children, I decided that God really was asking me to do something that didn’t involve a convent.

I still wasn’t sure what it was so tried a whole range of different jobs including, midwife, Special Constable, and a lengthy stint in Child Protection Services.   Even though I had ignored God, He hadn’t ignored me and so I found myself studying on part-time two-year course in the Diocese of Lichfield.  Lichfield remains one of my favourite cathedrals.   After 10 years of procrastination and a return to Yorkshire  I decided to follow the call more seriously.  I started studying at the Sheffield campus of St Hild theological college in September 2019.   I trained on the contextual pathway, which means that I got to work at church while studying.  I was ordained deacon in 2021 and priest in 2022.  I have served at St. John the Baptist Church in Wakefield where I experienced a whole range of different activities including writing and presenting my own Advent course and co-leading the Toddler Club.   I have to say that I really enjoyed writing the short course on the book of Revelation.   I then served a short curacy at Coley and Northowram.   While I was there, I preached and led services every week, helped at two Toddler Clubs weekly, helped at Youth Group weekly, and many more things including, weddings, baptisms and funerals.

My biggest weakness is that I can’t sing, so if I am stood next to you and I’m singing; I apologise in advance.  I guess singing all those chants in a convent several times a day was never going to work!

I spend my spare time with my family and dogs, even if that means doing nothing at all!  I spend as much time with Harriet as I can because she’s great fun.   I look after her on my day off and we go visiting the rest of the family.  My ‘in my spare time’ list is somewhat depleted from what it used to be on account of having rheumatoid arthritis.  At one point I would have been telling you how I spend 5 days a week at the gym but now, I do what I can, when I can.

I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone and serving you at the Church of the Holy Nativity.

Every blessing

Lindsey