Penny West (The Life of a Female Country Vicar)

Rev. Penny West, our Speaker on April 6th, trained as a Biomedical Scientist, and spent many years in the medical world.  Afterwards, instead of a quiet retirement, she decided to go into the Church and was ordained as a ‘non-stipendiary’ priest.  As she humorously explained, the Church was always trying to save money, and having such priests who worked for nothing was a Godsend.  Almost half the Clergy is now in this ‘non-stipendiary’ category. They usually have other means of support, and Penny said quite openly that she was living on the divorce settlement after her husband walked out.  She is now working in the Gloucester Diocese and has seven local Parishes.  She enjoyed lecturing and had talked to Rotary before on the subject of ‘Sightsavers’.  She said she particularly enjoyed talking to Rotary as she was starved of male humour. She was an extremely accomplished, knowledgeable, humorous, down-to-earth and forceful Speaker.

She said that it was necessary to have a completely open mindset working in the country.  One really had to be a ‘country’ person understanding agricultural matters; everyone knew everybody and news travelled so fast.  Her particular ‘loves’ were her two donkeys, and she also had chickens. Dealing with seven Parishes presented numerous problems: on a Sunday, she might be working from 8.30 am to 9 pm, have three morning services - she got incredibly hot in her heavy robes which, she explained, presented endless toilet problems - and she had to be a master of logistics to get through it all, see her daughter at the local horseshow, take one or two more services, and be in time for Formula One !  She said she was ‘uneasy’ about elaborate, expensive modern weddings – which were all about the Party afterwards and not the wedding itself.  Her practical background showed itself all the time, even at Baptisms, where she said she never held the baby, and it was better for a male priest “because he had larger hands”.

Her approach to her job showed throughout, her scientific background which made her question accepted some accepted religious thought – and sometimes raised doubts in the minds of the Church hierarchy.  Her forthcoming book ‘ God outside the Box’ should make very interesting reading.

Chris Brent-Smith