A full church of more than 200 people welcomed the Rev Jill Perrett as the new rector of St Peter’s, Addingham.

Members of the congregation, clergy and Mrs Perrett’s family and friends – including members of the congregation of her previous parish – enjoyed a service which combined ancient traditions and contemporary worship.

For the past six years, Mrs Perrett has served as vicar of two parishes in Wiltshire and worked with secondary schools in the area. She was also a tutor on the Southern Theological Education and Training Scheme (STETS).

Here, she will work as rector of Addingham and will be responsible for part of the post-ordination clergy training.

Originally from Lancashire, she is married to Tony, a building surveyor. They met whilst at university in Nottingham where Mrs Perrett took a social science degree before training as a social worker. The couple have lived, worked and brought up their family of four boys in Wiltshire.

Mrs Perrett trained for the ministry via STETS and was ordained in 2002.