Alumni
Revd. Canon Deborah Parsons
Revd. Canon Deborah Parsons
(neé Hills J & Dn 1977-1984
I`ve recently been installed as Canon Chancellor of Exeter Cathedral, a role which compliments my parochial ministry in Totnes and weaves together my love of pastoral care, my passion for nurturing people who would describe themselves as spiritual but not religious and my love of alternative and creative worship.
I`ve known since I was a teenager that I was called to spiritual life. It was never a case of if but when and perhaps that call into leadership was discerned by my appointment as a Rossall Award Leader, Head Chapel Warden and School Monitor.
A pioneer at Rossall School, I was one of the first eleven girls to be admitted to the school at the age of eleven: Bells, chapel, study, music, sport and prep punctuated my life for seven years. The daily rhythm of corporate prayer was to be formative. It taught me to go to work from a place of rest and enabled me to discover from the inside out what gives me life.
As a Newell Scholar, I benefited greatly from an all-round education and it instilled in me a curiosity and commitment to being a life-long learner and to break glass ceilings. I was taught by some inspirational teachers, amongst them Tony Reeves, Geoffrey Lee, Tim Roper and Graham Canham, who instilled in me a love of English and Divinity, fostered my creativity and encouraged me to enter the Baker Memorial Prize for Public Speaking.
As a timid eleven-year old, I was selected, in my first term, to read a lesson at the Carol Service. Little did I appreciate what an important skill it would be in my adult life. I don’t know who was more nervous, me or my parents, particularly as I didn’t walk around the lectern to read the lesson but squeezed through the gap between the lectern and a pedestal which housed a very large floral display. Apparently, the large floral display wobbled but didn`t topple!
My calling to ordination wasn’t possible for women in the Church of England, initially, so for twenty years, I taught English at Epsom College and served on the Senior Leadership Team. My experience as a pioneer at Rossall proved invaluable when I was invited to bring in co-education at 13+ and became Epsom College`s first Housemistress.
I am fortunate to love my work but the downside of my vocations is that I`ve always worked on weekends, which makes it more difficult, though not impossible, to nurture friendships and to join O.R. events. The different pace of work during the pandemic, gave me the opportunity to reconnect with school friends and to discover that the friendships forged many years ago still stand the test of time.
What did I enjoy most at Rossall? Playing rounders after prep on balmy summer evenings; cross country runs along the prom; camping & cooking with Rossall Award; choral comp; chats over coffee in Rev Canham`s house after Thursday evening communion; theatre trips. And if I had one piece of advice to offer my younger self, I`d say: “Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future. Therefore, you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more importantly, it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.” (John O`Donohue – Anam Cara – A Book of Celtic Wisdom)