A RETIRING vicar who said she felt ‘privileged’ to help make history when she was the first woman priest ordained in Cornwall more than 20 years ago has reflected on her time in the county.

The Rev Canon Sherry Bryan, who took her last service at St Breward on June 4 ahead of retiring and moving away from the area, said she was the first in the line-up to be ordained as a priest at Truro Cathedral in 1994, thanks to an alphabetical list!

She said: “I was the first in the line. The Bishop Michael, who was then the Bishop, ordained us and we made history.

“I felt incredibly, incredibly privileged and overwhelmed, really. It was surreal.”

Sherry was previously a music librarian in the Midlands and lived in Warwickshire, training at a college in Birmingham.

She was accepted to become a curate down in Truro and ordained as a deacon in 1991.

She added: “Then the women priests debate was continuing and in 1992 it was accepted women could be ordained in 1994.”

She said she had ‘never expected’ to get a job in Cornwall, adding: “It was like a dream. My brother had lived down here quite a while. I came down on holiday. I always felt this pull towards Cornwall. I’m half Welsh, I think it’s the Celtic-ness that pulls me!

“When I came down to the interview and stepped on the Cornishman train I had this sense of destiny.”

Sherry has worked in Cornwall for 26 years. She was curate at St Columb Major and Colan for nearly five years, then vicar of St Teath with Delabole, when she was also rural dean, chaplain of Bodmin Hospital and chaplain of the fire service in the area.

Then she said somebody was needed in St Breward, and has been with St Breward, Blisland, Helland and Temple for 12 years, and in the last 12 months these churches were joined by St Mabyn, St Tudy and Michaelstow to make a cluster of seven churches.

She said: “It’s been been challenging but actually exciting. Lots of fun, lots of variety in my role to prepare the whole area for the next priest to follow me. [The cluster has] been getting to know each other and getting to work together.

“I was trained in the days when you could expect possibly to have one church but now I have seven — things have changed.

“There has been a huge reduction in clergy, finance has increasingly become a problem. The people who come to church are more committed but there are less people who come these days. I think the church reaches out to the community more than it did.

“I think the clergy of previous generations in comparison with the clergy today just had a different life. Once upon a time there was a guarantee of a job for life and a pension.”

In these changing times, though, Sherry believes the church continues to provide a vital role, adding: “The world is a different world and the church is part of the world. We are all facing times we have never known before. There will always be a need for somebody for people to talk to.”

Although looking forward to spending more time with family, Sherry hopes to continue working in retirement on a voluntary basis, adding: “Because it’s a vocation not just a job, most clergy continue working.

“I will just wait and see what God has for me in the future. Clergy life is very demanding. Not to be on call 24/7 will be an incredible treat after all these years!”

Sherry said she wanted the process to find her replacement to start before she left as ‘it does take a long time’, but does not think this replacement will happen until at least next Spring, although there are retired clergy around who have offered to take services, with services up to Christmas understood to be covered. After that Sherry said it depends on who will be available, warning that ‘sometimes services might not be able to take place’.

On the area she has grown to love, she said: “The whole area is amazing. It’s unique. When I first came here I had horses as well and it was just wonderful to enjoy the countryside and everything it had to offer and be part of the local life. It’s an incredibly warm, caring and interesting area to live in.

“The communities are thriving here even though to other people it probably looks like the middle of nowhere!

“It’s been an enormous privilege. In my job you get to see people at their best times and their worst times and we share with them the depths and heights of living really. It’s quite hard to just be walking away. We have to do that in order to make space for the next person to come.”

The Rt Rev Tim Thornton, Bishop of Truro, said: “Sherry will be much missed and I know how much Sherry will miss the parishes and people. She has been involved in all aspects of community life and has been faithful and prayerful in all her leadership of the parishes. She has been a very effective priest and has loved the people in her care.”