Women have taken an active part within the Parish since its consecration in 1835 – indeed it was the bequest from a woman that paid for the building of Holy Trinity church in the first place. It would take nearly 150 years however, before the Church recognised the God-given gifts of women, theologically trained, to be ordained clergy. The role of unpaid Deaconess was filled by women in England from the 1860s but it was not until 1980 that Jane Hedges (nee Taylor), a female theological college graduate, became our first woman curate, as a stipendiary (paid) deaconess.

In 1987, the Church of England ordained their first female deacons (a role previously always fulfilled by men). Then in 1994, the first woman Priests were ordained in the Church of England. That same year, Holy Trinity with St Columba celebrated the ordination of three of our clergy women into the Priesthood – Reverends Ann Burr, Doreen Jackson and Ruth Jagger.

Over recent years, our congregations have had the privilege of being served by women and men, in equal roles and training and since 2011.