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St Mary’s, Brackla

Service times Sunday:
9.30 Coity, Brackla, Coychurch, Penyfai
11.00 Nolton, Laleston, Merthyrmawr, Newcastle

Wednesday:
9.30 Nolton (in the Rectory) or Coity, Laleston
11.00 Coychurch, Newcastle (not in August)

As there are currently two full time priests serving the Ministry Area, there are 4 Eucharists and 4 lay-led services every week. Please consult the current newsletter for the monthly plan.

Address:
Archdeacon John Lewis Church in Wales Primary School, Brackla Way, Brackla, Bridgend CF31 2JS

St Mary’s, Brackla has been located in Archdeacon John Lewis Church in Wales school in Brackla since 1995 and, since 2002, services have been held in the new school hall.

Ministry Area Leader and Vicar of Coity, Nolton and Brackla with Coychurch

The Rev’d Maggie Thorne
The Rev’d Maggie Thorne

Although I was born in London, I grew up on Tyneside. My father was the local Presbyterian Church minister (now the United Reformed Church) so church as always featured prominently in my life. I have two older brothers, one a retired minister living in Herefordshire, and the other a consultant forensic psychiatrist
living in Canada. I left school after my A levels to study music in London and graduated with a Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (in clarinet playing) and a BA(Hons) in Music Education. For more years than I care to admit, I was a VMT or Visiting Music Teacher, teaching the clarinet in both the state and private sectors as well as running a successful private teaching business with my husband in the UK and in Australia. For many years I was Head of Wind and Brass at a large independent girls’ school in Oxfordshire. We have two children who both now live in Cardiff with their other halves. My daughter is a community nurse and my son is a jazz musician. The call to serve simmered from childhood when I accompanied my father on his pastoral visits to a geriatric hospital and gradually that call became insistent. It’s a long story with more twists and turns than a mini-series and I’m happy to repeat it to anyone who wants to listen! The exploration of my vocation took me to London University where I successfully completed my MA in Pastoral Studies. Still exploring, my next journey was into studying psychotherapy and counselling which is now channelled into pastoral counselling and vocations advice. With the call ever-stronger, I was accepted for training to the Anglican ministry and studied at Cuddesdon Theological College in Oxford. Since ordination I have served in a suburban parish in Reading, an urban parish comprising two large housing estates in Oxford and a semi-rural/rural united parish of four churches in South Oxfordshire. Along the way I undertook further study in Sarum College, gaining my MA in Christian Liturgy. Lockdown this year has enabled me to learn more about virtual worship and communication through modern technology, but above all, my greatest interest is people and how each of us experiences God’s call on our lives. For the wider Church I am a vocations’ advisor and spiritual director, and am a member of SLAC (the Standing Liturgical Advisory Commission). Although I’m English and married to an Australian, we adopted Wales as our own 11 years ago and love living here. I’ve been learning the language for a couple of years, but although my reading of it is coming along, please don’t ask me to speak it yet! In love, I hold the people of Bridgend in my heart before God daily.