Mary Lynch
We
welcomed a new Reader, Mary Lynch, in May. Here she introduces herself:
I was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, in 1938. I might have been born in South Africa, where my father was a Judge and my
Mother a Classics Teacher, but my arrival coincided with a period of leave in England.
As a very small child I attended a
very small school – just fourteen pupils – on the estate of the Duke of
Portland, in Derbyshire, where we had a farm.
At the age of nine I moved to St. Anne’s C of E School, in Worksop,
Nottinghamshire. I won a scholarship at
the age of eleven and went away to boarding school, to Abbots Bromley, in Staffordshire, an Anglo Catholic school founded in the 19th
century by Nathaniel Woodard, a sister school to Lancing College.
My school, was – and is – a place of academic excellence with wonderful
facilities for music, but with the worship in the school chapel and the
celebration of the Eucharist at the very centre of every day. Our morning worship ended with this response
from Ecclesiastes: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might, that God in all
things may be glorified”.
My Father was a Roman Catholic and
my Mother an Anglican. As far-sighted
parents for those days, they decided that my brother, my sister and I should
not be baptised until we were able to decide for ourselves which road to
follow. I was baptised in the school
chapel on 5th March 1952, and confirmed one week later in
the village Parish Church, by the Bishop of Exeter, an old boy
of Lancing College.
I carry with me wherever I go the little red book he gave me on that
day, “Helps to worship”.
In 1956 I came to study law at Liverpool University, and I became a member of Lincoln’s Inn.
I worshipped at St. Agnes’, Ullet Road.
My first job after qualifying was in the Legal Department of Lloyds Bank
in India Buildings. In February 1961 I
married Tony, then Assistant Solicitor to the Mersey Docks and Harbour
Board. We moved to Newton in the spring of 1961, and joined
the parish family at St. Michael’s. We
rapidly acquired three sons, Mark, Rupert and Simon, and moved to a bigger
house in Meols in September 1964. In 1972 a fourth son, Ben, was born. At St. Michael’s, Mark, Simon and Ben were choristers. Rupert and Ben were Servers. I became the first female Server in 1978, and
was later licensed by the Bishop of Chester to administer the chalice at the
Eucharist.
I resumed my legal career, when I
felt sure that Ben could be trusted to get himself and his valuable violin
safely to and from Birkenhead Preparatory School.
I worked in the Land Registry and later in the Magistrates and Crown
Court sections of the CPS, where I became very interested in cases of complex
fraud. In January 1990, I was summoned
to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in London, to join the Fraud Investigation
Group. My group dealt with frauds in
excess of £1million, all cases of corruption, the prosecution of police
officers, all election offences and the prosecution of well-known and important
miscreants – a very exciting job. But
each weekend I returned home to the Wirral to carry out my duties at the 8a.m. Eucharist at St. Michael’s.
I retired from the Government
service in 1998, and, after a short time in Chambers, began an entirely new
career, having been invited to serve in the Royal Household – another very
exciting job - which I continued for six years.
I was privileged to attend every kind of function, occasion and
activity. It was sometimes hard work and
the hours could be very long, but it was always rewarding. I worshipped regularly in the Chapel Royal,
either in St. James’s Palace, in Buckingham Palace or at Windsor.
The Supreme Governor of the Church of England has not adopted Common
Worship for use in any of Her Chapels Royal!
I still drove home at the weekend for my duties at Newton, if I had no “royal” duties.
In my “retirement”, I completed my
training as a Reader and served as Churchwarden during the two Vacancies at St.
Michael’s. In January, I began a new
career in the Chaplaincy Team at Arrowe Park Hospital, which I find very rewarding. In my leisure time, I enjoy singing with the
Renaissance Music Group, based at Liverpool University, a group I joined in 1972. I am a very keen lacemaker
and attend classes weekly. I am a member
of two rambling groups. And, like many
ladies who have reached their three score years and ten, I am a very proud
Grandmother, six times over!
I look forward to the next exciting
stage of my ministry, and I thank you all for your very warm welcome.
Mary Lynch
June 2008