Trustees
I have been a CF Companion on the Way for about 13 years. I live with two friends in a community household, where I often practise contemplation with the help of Xena the household cat. In our household, together and with others, we create spaces of prayer and sanctuary in the city. I facilitate quiet days, retreats and “wild sing” walks and I am a life coach and Spiritual Accompanier. I am also an Anglican priest, and I often coach people discovering what “church” looks like when it emerges among people who are culturally distant from traditional expressions of church.
I have been a Companion for only a little more than 2 years but I have connected loosely with Contemplative Fire since 2010 through Whirlow Grange (now renamed as Whirlow Spirituality Centre) when my late husband and I following the call to move to Sheffield from Nottingham with our son who is now a young adult.
My career path has been windy. From teaching to city-wide student ministry in Hong Kong, then climbed from the bottom of the ladder to become a Chartered Librarian in the UK. When I came to Sheffield, I was recovering from an illness. After some serious soul searching on my heart’s desire, I picked up what I had left behind for 15 years and retrained to be a professionally accredited counsellor. With God’s grace, I am more and more rooted in the calling of being a listener. In 2022, I joined the Diocese of Sheffield’s Spiritual Accompanier Network.
I have been a companion for five years and here are just some of the things I love about Contemplative Fire (which are all summarised in the wonderful trefoil): the vulnerable journey as we encourage each other to follow in the way of Christ; contemplative practices such as listening threes, chants and body prayer; accepting and learning from people and things that are different from us: nurturing the skills that companions have and the willingness to give new things a go; connection; unknowing.
My first encounter with Contemplative Fire was in the early days, at the tiny chapel at the Lee. I was immediately drawn to the creativity, candlelit contemplation, body prayer and inclusive language. It took several years before I became a companion but, since then, the community has been my spiritual home. I now live in Birmingham, where I am an anchor resident in a community house, running pioneer church activities alongside working as a supply teacher and facilitating various community theatre projects.