Hi, I’m Helen and I’m the minister at Upton Methodist Church. I also have pastoral responsibility for Ackworth and Ropewalk (Knottingley) Methodist Churches.

I was born in London, but have been in Yorkshire for 12 years now and have no desire to return to the big smoke. I am one of four girls, but at least my dad had the family dog on his side! Growing up, a lot of my time was spent training at Essex Ladies Athletics Club, playing the violin in the school and borough orchestras and singing in choirs. On leaving school, I went to Richmond-upon-Thames College, where I studied Business and Finance and successfully achieved an HND qualification. After college I found work in the shipping industry, working for three different companies over a period of 7 years.

So how did I get to be a minister?

As a child, I attended Sunday School  and the uniformed organisations at the Baptist Church on our street. I stopped going to church as a teenager, but started going again at the age of 18, after making a decision to welcome Jesus into my heart and a commitment to follow him at a concert organised by Youth for Christ. I was put in touch with a local Methodist Church that had a very strong youth group and feeling very welcome there, I eventually became a member of the church. I taught in the Sunday school and in 1988 I started training as a local preacher. It was in the autumn of 1989 that I felt God was calling me to be a full-time minister of his church. I gave up the rat-race and left London in the summer of 1990 to study at Cliff College – the Methodist Training College in Evangelism. While I was there, I offered as a candidate for the ministry in the Methodist Church.

 The result of the process resulted in the recommendation that I should not begin training immediately, but wait a period of at least three years before offering again.

I moved to Nottinghamshire and found work helping redundant coal miners find alternative work or a place on a suitable retraining programme. I did this for 3 years – the last six months of which were spent working in the Durham coalfield.

I offered for the ministry again and this time was accepted. I went to the Wesley Study Centre in Durham and was awarded a degree in Theology from Durham University. For the final year of my training I went to Germany to embark on Post-Graduate studies.

My first appointment as a probationer minister was in the York South Circuit. I was ordained in 2000 at the Huddersfield Conference. After five years in York, I was appointed to the Otley and Aireborough Circuit and after a further five years came to the Pontefract and Normanton Circuit.

Much of my ministry has been focussed on working with children and young people, as well as representing the Methodist Church in Europe at various conferences and events.

In my spare time, I still enjoy singing and playing the violin as well as water-colour painting, making cards and needlework and having a “girlie” night out with friends .