Welcome Caryl Plewes

Welcoming our New Curate

It is with great joy that we welcome Caryl Plewes to Taunton Minster as she prepares to be ordained on 28th June. Following this significant step into her ministry, we are delighted to announce that Caryl will deliver her first sermon at the Minster on Sunday 13th July, when she will be formally welcomed into our church community.

Caryl joins us at an exciting time of growth and renewal, and we look forward to walking alongside her as she begins this chapter of her vocation. Her presence among us is a blessing, and we are excited to support her as part of our contribute to the future leadership of the wider Anglican church.

Please do join us in prayer and fellowship as we celebrate her ordination and the gifts she brings to the life of Taunton Minster and the wider community.

Welcome, Caryl — we’re so glad you’re here.

Caryl’s Introduction

1. Tell us about yourself –
   • Your family:
     I have two young adult children, both at university.  Mike Eaton, my husband, is a semi-retired engineer and as a keen amateur musician spends much of his non-working time making music with the various bands he belongs to.  We have been married for 23 years.
   • What part of the country you are from?
     My family moved frequently in my childhood, which meant I went to three primary schools and three secondary schools.  We eventually settled in a small village south of Birmingham when I was 13.  I went to school in Edgbaston and then Bromsgrove for my A-levels, so this is where I say I am from.
   • What you like to do in your spare time?
     I enjoy singing and have been part of many choirs and church music groups.  Since having my family I have discovered the joy of tending a garden.  I also enjoy cooking and making things; I have made my own clothes in the past and have just made a rug out of old socks for my youngest daughter to take to university.
2. What did you do before you began your ordination training?
   • My career has been varied, beginning with academic research about fossils before switching career to be a project manager in the NHS.  I moved to Somerset to get married, and while my children were small, became the Parish Administrator for our church, St James in Yeovil.  After this my career took a different turn and I worked as a Family Link Worker for local charity ‘Yeovil 4 Family’.  When my first daughter started school I became a school governor and this led years later to my most recent job with school governance.  It was being made redundant from this job that began my journey towards ordination, exploring an idea that had been in the background since my twenties.
3. Can you outline a little of your faith journey?
   • It was through a teenage school friend that I first found out that Jesus wanted me to choose to follow him and this led me to be confirmed.  However, it was when I went to university that I really began to explore my faith and learn what being part of church meant.  Those university years gave me a love of the Bible, worship and talking about things of faith.  After leaving my university church I moved for jobs and belonged to some very different churches: I spent three years in a small Vineyard church in Redditch, an Independent Methodist church in Warrington and a large Church of England church in Muswell Hill in London.  They all taught me about what church is and even though music styles and liturgy can be very different, I could find a home with others who love Jesus.  After my marriage and our move to Yeovil we settled in St James where we have worshipped since, and this has been the church I have belonged to the longest.  There are blessings and challenges to staying, but this has been the church where I have been encouraged to grow and explore what ministry God is calling me into.  This began with being a Lay Worship Assistant, then a Reader and now being called to Ordination and moving away to follow that call.  My faith has grown and changed over the years, but still rests on my call from Jesus to follow him, trust him and that he will be with me and bless me through whatever arises.
4. And finally if you could tell us one unusual thing about yourself what would it be?
   • My friends and family know that occasionally, when we are out, I will suddenly stop and point out fossils in polished stone floors, walls, or pick up a belemnite or gryphaea fossil oyster in the gravel we are standing on (which I did recently in my mum’s garden).  My good friends admire the find with me, others have been known to march on, away from the embarrassment.