The Right Revd Martin Seeley, the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is delighted to announce that the next Priest in Charge of the benefice of St Thomas The Apostle and Martyr, Ipswich will be The Revd Rachel Revely, this is subject to the completion of legal formalities and it is hoped she will be licensed to her new post on Monday 2 August 2021 at 7.30pm.
Rachel is presently Assistant Curate of the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln with an extended placement in the Benefice of Branston with Nocton and Potterhanworth in the Lincoln diocese. 
Bishop Martin would like to thank the parish representatives and all those involved in the process of Rachel’s appointment, and he assures you of his prayers. Please pray for Rachel as she prepares for her move.

“Hello everyone, I am thrilled to have been appointed as Priest in Charge of Thomas’ and cannot wait to meet you all in August.
Meanwhile, you might like to know a bit about my background, I grew up in the North East of England, in Newcastle, where I also studied music at university. After graduating, I became a shop assistant then after that a singing teacher and a year 1 recorder teacher (not a job I recommend although it was not quite as bad as my next post of teaching year 3 violin). Whilst teaching music in schools, I was also a community choir leader in Edinburgh where I worked in a respite centre for people with HIV and Hepatitis C. 
Not a Christian from birth, I fell into church rather accidentally through music and found my faith whilst singing in a choir and leading a worship band. Overtime, my sense of vocation and call to ordained ministry started to grow, so I then became a school chaplain and a pastoral assistant for a group of churches in Scunthorpe, a steel industry town in North Lincolnshire. It was a wonderful year where I learnt a lot about church life. Having been accepted for training, I studied for 3 years at Westcott House, Cambridge and was ordained in 2018. For the last three years, I have served as curate at Lincoln Cathedral and then also in my final year in three villages just south of the city. My academic interests include the intersection of popular culture and the church, the study of mission and liberation theologies. 
My hobbies are spending time with friends, playing Dungeons and Dragons, playing board games although I have been banned from monopoly because ‘apparently’ I take it too seriously. I have a hearty interest in drinking tea and an extensive collection of colourful shoes! 
I am looking forward to moving to Ipswich and getting to know you all.”
Revd Rachel Revely