This September we were delighted to welcome Katie Schad who joins the Priory family as our ‘Young People and Families Worker’.

This post was created after much prayer and consideration and we hope that this will be a great encouragement as we seek to develop our ministry among young people and their families.

“I must start by saying thank you to everyone who has made me so welcome in my first couple of months at the Priory.  I already feel part of the Priory family.

I am not sure how to introduce myself. But will have a go… Over the years, I have worked as an RE and History teacher, trained as a Reader and led various Sunday-morning children’s groups, youth clubs, parent-and-toddler groups, and Bible study-groups.  Although not all at the same time!  John has heroically led many of these groups with me, so I now help him with Saturday morning football at Dallas Road Boys and Girl Club.

We moved to Lancaster six years ago when our twins finished their A’ Levels and Rebecca was only seven.  It is a long way from our families in the South but we do love the history and beauty of this area.  Before coming to the Priory we really valued being part of St Thomas’, where the wonderful children’s workers Sarah and Emma taught me a great deal.  The plan is that wherever possible we will work together and share resources.

I am very much still finding my way and working out what my priorities should be, but part of role, and close to my heart, is working with the people living on the Marsh and the new Luneside Estates.  With Sally Pidd from St Thomas’s and with the help of Pam Robinson, I have been running the Coffee and Cake Club, a women’s group that meets at the Marsh Community Centre on Friday afternoons.  It is a small and wonderfully relaxed friendly group that laughs a lot, chats, drinks coffee and eats Sally’s fantastic cakes.  We are always ready to welcome new members, so if you know of anyone who lives in the Marsh area who might like to come please let me know.

I have two long term dreams.  The first is to work with other local churches to start a Parent and Toddler group in the Willow Lane part of town. The second is, well, an even bigger dream and, fortunately, not solely dependent on me – wouldn’t it be great if every child who came to the Priory felt so welcomed and wanted that they became part of the Priory family and in doing so met with Jesus?”