Welcome to the Parish of Birstall & Wanlip
"Seeking to live out God's love"
We are a Christian community seeking to live out God’s love. Our Parish serves the communities of Birstall and Wanlip, on the northern edge of Leicester. Our Churches, St James the Great, Birstall and Our Lady & St Nicholas, Wanlip are here for the whole community. We offer a place of spirituality, hospitality and belonging, as well as a place of Christian nurture for all ages. We also work in partnership with others, to serve God and his world. Our partners include: Churches Together in Birstall & Wanlip, the Watermead Mission Partnership, Goscote Deanery, the Diocese of Leicester and overseas partners in Uganda, Belize and Uruguay.Whether you are new to the area and looking for a Church to join, or live locally and are in need of information or support, we welcome you. If you would like to contact a member of the Ministry Team directly, please go to Contact Us.
Rev'd James Shakespeare, Rector
Meet the Team
The Rev'd James Shakespeare - Rector
I have been in Birstall since 2005. I’m married to Alison, and we have two school-aged children, Hannah and Edward. Before coming here I worked with the Bishop of Leicester, after a time as a curate in Cambridge. Outside work I love reading, walking, travelling and Asian cuisine. So the village of Birstall is well placed between Leicester’s Golden Mile, well known for Indian restaurants and the beautiful Charnwood Forest!
Rev'd Colin Rushforth - Assistant Priest
I was ordained as a priest on 1st October 1978 serving two curacies in Chichester Diocese and then as an incumbent in Lincolnshire followed by being team vicar at St Andrew Jarrom Street in Leicester. For my last eleven years of full-time ministry I was wholetime hospital chaplain at Leicester Royal Infirmary. During which time I trained as a Person Centred Psychotherapist and Counsellor. I then left full-time ministry and trained as a psychiatric nurse subsequently working on a secure unit with Personality Disorder patients. I currently work with clients with addiction problems for the NHS and also run my own private practice as a Person Centred Therapist. I have the privilege of being an honorary assistant priest at St James the Great Birstall and Our Lady and St Nicholas Wanlip where I exercise the priestly ministry as part of the parish ministry team.
Contact The Rev'd Colin Rushforth
Lesley Walton - Reader
I have lived in Birstall for nearly 40 years. I’m married to John, with a grown-up daughter, Becky. I’ve been a Reader for 6 years, involved in all sorts of church activities, including taking funerals. I come from a totally non-church background, went to a Jewish primary school and often struggle with faith, so I feel a particular affinity with people outside and on the edge of church. My chief interest is natural history, birdwatching particularly. As a feeble attempt to get fit, I lead the St James Wanderers on monthly walks with Sandra Robinson.
Peter Chester - Reader
I have been a Christian since some time around my fifteenth birthday, many many years ago! I have always been actively involved in church life, for many years in a large evangelical church in centre of Leicester and, since moving house in 1992, in Birstall parish church. I have been a Lay Reader since 2004. I am employed full-time working for the County Council Children and Young People's Services department.
Bert Tegg - Reader
I have been a Reader in the parish since 1993. An accountant by profession, I worked in the Public Sector for most of his career until I retired in 2003. I have been married to Marion, a Pastoral Assistant in the parish, for 43 years and we have two children, Julian and Rachel, and four grandchildren. As well as preaching I head up the Healing Team, Chairs the Mission and Outreach Committee, help with the After School Club at Highcliffe School, am Convener of the Men’s Group and assist the clergy in their ministry to the bereaved.
Sandra Robinson - Pastoral Assistant
Birstall has been my home for the last 50 years and I have seen many changes over this time. I started worshipping at St. James in 1982 and was confirmed in 1983. As the years went by I felt God was calling me to something more within the church but had no idea what it was. It was in 1996 that I read about a new lay Pastoral Assistant ministry and after a one year course followed by two years Pastoral Assistant training was commissioned in 2000. I enjoy walking in the countryside, sometimes with a pair of binoculars draped around my neck, and have with Lesley Walton, one of our Readers, started an easy walking group within the church.
Marion Tegg - Pastoral Assistant
I am married with two grown-up children and four grandchildren. I am now retired from paid work. Over the years I have been involved in many aspects of church life – currently my main duties are with the Tiny Tots group, the after-school club and baptism preparation. From time to time I help with other church activities, for instance, Children’s Holiday Club and home communions. I am part of the Healing Group.
Doreen Wilson - Pastoral Assistant
I grew up in Leicester and moved to Birstall shortly after being married and have now lived here for nearly 50 years. Although I was brought up in the Methodist church, I moved to St James about 15 years ago as I felt the Anglican tradition better answered the spiritual needs I had. I was duly confirmed when I became sure it was the right "place" for me to be. A few years later I took the course to become a Pastoral Assistant and through that training have now become a Volunteer Pastoral Visitor at LOROS, a new initiative to continue the help and support given to patients and their families by the Chaplaincy team during the patients stay in LOROS. I also took on the position of Churchwarden last year and so find life is very busy, but I am not a person who is happy with nothing much to do. If I can offer support and comfort to anyone in need, then I feel I am doing what I have been called to do.
Gill Pope - Pastoral Assistant
I have worshipped at St James in Birstall and St Nicholas and Our Lady in Wanlip for the past 7 years. I was commissioned as a Pastoral Assistant on 11th November 2008 and, now semi-retired, I am looking forward to being involved in this work in the parish. I help to organise social events and I am one of the bell-ringers, ringing for services at both churches. I have two children and a grandson.