Local rector will become canon
THE Rev Paul Nelson, rector of nine parishes and rural dean of Beccles and Halesworth, will be made a canon at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds.
THE Rev Paul Nelson, rector of nine parishes and rural dean of Beccles and Halesworth, will be made a canon at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds.
He will become a canon at a service on Sunday at 3.30pm, which will be attended by many of his parishioners, as well as friends and family.
Mr Nelson, who is rector at Brampton, Ilketshall St Andrew, Redisham, Ringsfield, Weston, Shadingfield and Wenhaston, Sotterley and Stoven, said: “It came as a bolt from the blue and it is something that is a very happy thing to happen.
“I'm very pleased and grateful to be living in the Beccles area. It's a lovely place to live in where people have been very friendly. It's been a lovely time of my life.”
He moved to Brampton 10 years ago with his daughter Polly and sons William and John. He started out as curate in Waltham in London, and was ordained in Sandridge, St Albans, in 1995. He stayed there for 11 years before moving to Brampton, and was initially rector for six parishes before taking on another three in 2006.
He was made rural dean of Beccles in 2003, despite admitting that it was not something he had initially aspired to do, but came to love the fact that it brought him into contact with so many different people. It was last year he took on Halesworth deanery as well.
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He has taken a central role in the revival of Shadingfield Village Hall, which has seen a number of developments over the years.
He said: “The village hall at Shadingfield is a crucial community centre, and it was in some state of disrepair. We established an independent trust to run it and turned it into a vibrant community centre.”
