Mr Gareth Gladman
Youth Worker
Hi, my name is
Gareth Gladman and I was born in 1980 in the medieval village of Castle
Acre in West Norfolk. Until I was eight I lived on the estate of Lord
Keith just outside the village where my father worked; this was a lovely
place to grow up with its Castle, Norman town walls, enormous medieval
church and one of the loveliest Abbey ruins in England. We then moved
to a tied cottage in the tiny village of Beachamwell in south west Norfolk
because my father got a new job on a farm there.
My brother and I both went to school in the local market town of Swaffham
and while there I gained 9 GCSE’s and 3 ‘A’ levels.
I also ran the youth club in the village; this was a lifeline to an isolated
rural community where the closest other activities (Scouts etc) were over
ten miles away. I wanted to go to university, but my parents could not
afford to support me and I did not fancy running up £30,000 of debt
before I was 24 and so decided to stay in Norfolk and go into work instead.
For a year I worked at the Horstead Centre; this is the youth residential
centre for the Diocese of Norwich located in the Broads. While living
there I was an archery instructor, led courses on both low and high ropes
courses and gave team building workshops for young people. The groups
who stayed with us ranged from choirs singing for a week at the Cathedral,
youth clubs, schools, groups of young people with mobility issues and
groups of young people excluded from education long term. The supervision
we provided was 24 hours a day but highly rewarding; especially when you
made a connection with young people who maybe had little direction in
their home life or little confidence.
After this I moved into a totally different world; that of the English
Cathedral. For seven years I was a verger at Norwich Cathedral. The specific
role I undertook was that of vesturer and being the verger responsible
for the liturgical life of the Cathedral. While doing this, the Cathedral
also part funded an external theology course at the University of London.
Two years ago I was promoted to the post of Visitors’ Officer. This
role has had many different parts: Firstly, I have been responsible for
the recruitment, training and pastoral care of the Cathedrals 600+ volunteers.
Also, I have had oversight of the ‘visitor experience’ from
marketing to tourists through guided tours, events and finding new ways
to engage ‘unchurched’ visitors to the most complete Romanesque
Cathedral in England (always a controversial statement to make to people
from County Durham!) However, the most rewarding part of this role has
been to be a part of the education delivery team. This has involved developing
trails, tours and activities for both schools and ‘drop in’
holiday activities for young people. Our Monks trail (which I lead) is
very popular and a schools day I designed based around the medieval church
entitled ‘priests and power’ was a hit and introduced schoolchildren
to medieval music, art and life.
I lead a full and active church life and, when our parish recently had
a new priest, was responsible for reinstituting a full serving team and
training up the new recruits. I designed our parishes Holy Week Liturgy
last year and play a full part in our local Young Peoples Church. Our
greatest success last year with the young people was a series of workshops
about vestments which culminated in designing a new childrens stole which
was then made up and is used for our ‘informal’ Mass every
five weeks.
Among my personal interests I love walking (usually with my Labrador Leo)
and reading, I am also a fan of most types of music and film. I am an
occassional fan of football and support Ipswich Town and also enjoy rugby
and look forward to being near the Newcastle Falcons. I have been a follower
of celtic spirituality for some time now and have been creating liturgies
for use at the Cathedral for a couple of years and would hope to be able
to carry this work with me to the North East (where it really belongs.)
I also love history and belong to a Guild which interprets Historical
characters and events to the public, museums and schools.
As a good Norfolk boy, I am of course sad to be leaving the beauty of
East Anglia behind. However, I need a new challenge and had decided some
time ago that I wanted to move to the North East. I have been visiting
the area for some years and have been genuinely overwhelmed by the warmth
and generosity of the people, which I think is unmatched anywhere else
in the country and I think West Auckland is a place where I can really
fit in and make a difference. I am looking forward to moving up and starting
work. I will rely on the help, support, prayers and ideas of the community
to set me on the right course – after all, you know what is needed
much better than I at the moment. I will be with you for Easter and hope
that this is the beginning of a really exciting time for both me and the
parish of St. Helen.
Gareth
The Parish Office and Resource Centre is now open. Our parish administrator, Mrs. Catherine Trormann,will be available from 10.30am to 1.30pm on Wednesday mornings to help the public who may need a C.V. or a job application typed or help with official forms. Notice sheets, magazines and general parish administration will be done at this time.
It would be also very much appreciated if those who have a working knowledge of computers including Microsoft Word and/or Microsoft Publisher could volunteer to help Gareth with his work in the Resource Centre.
