Gillingham is set to welcome a new vicar in the New Year.

The Reverend Rebecca McDonnell will be formally installed as the rector of Gillingham in a ceremony at St Mary the Virgin church on Thursday 29 January.

The ceremony will be performed by the Archdeacon of Dorset, Antony MacRow-Wood .

The Reverend McDonnell has been living in Dorset since 2023 and has been a deacon and then priest at Sherborne.

Having grown up near Oxford, she also spent nine years in the Tisbury area with her husband Stewart, during which time she worked for the Trussell Trust and studied Christian Liturgy at Sarum College. The couple have two sons, aged nine and six.

‘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,’ says the Reverend McDonnell, whose mother was also a priest.

She adds: ‘I’m very much looking forward to getting to know everyone in the community!’

The induction and installation ceremony at the church will take place at 7pm and all are welcome. More details are in the open invitation to the parish (see below).