PRIEST's LETTER

The Reverend Rebecca McDonnell

( Becca’s introduction contained in the Order of Service for her induction into the Gillingham Benefice

29th January 2026 )

I come to Gillingham having grown up near Oxford.  My father was a schoolmaster and my mother a priest.

I lived in Dover and southeast London before making a home with my husband Stewart in Tisbury, where we were for nine years.   In that time I worked for the Trussell Trust while studying Christian Liturgy at Sarum College.   I enjoyed being part of the church family at St John’s Tisbury, where I helped run family services, Sunday School, the youth group and holiday clubs, all while going through the vocations discernment process with Salisbury Diocese.

In 2016 Stewart and I welcomed our first son, Culin, who was followed in 2019 by Murdo.   After being recommended for training for ordination, we moved as a family to Oxford in summer 2020, mid-pandemic, where I trained for three years at Ripon College, Cuddesdon.   In my final year, Bishop Stephen and Revd Nigel Done invited me to look at the Sherborne benefice for my curacy and, after meeting the vicar, Revd Martin Lee, it felt like the right calling.   We moved to Dorset in the spring of 2023.

I was ordained deacon at Petertide that year and priest in 2024.   Sherborne turned out to be a very happy curacy, and I was able to grow by the power of the Sprit.   It was a delight to be invited to apply and be successful in interview for the role of Rector in the benefice of Gillingham, Milton on Stour and Silton where, once again, I feel God calling me and directing my footsteps.   My family are looking forward to starting a new school and settling into life here.   Our boys are now nine and six, the eldest a chorister.   My husband Stewart is a plant operative and we also have a tortoise called Simeon.

I am looking forward to being with you all in the community and seeing God’s Kingdom in this place.

Becca