Dear Friends,Thank you for your prayers for my commissioning as Dean of Women on Thursday, at the diocesan clergy conference. It was a very moving experience with so much warm support from my colleagues (there is a Twitter post about it on the diocesan Twitter feed but I have added the picture taken of me with many of the other women at the conference for those who (like me) are not on Twitter! The conference was excellent, with some very good speakers and input. Bishop Robert set the tone at the beginning recognising that we are all living through very challenging times with no easy answers. In his sermon at the concluding Eucharist he followed that up with a reminder that in the midst of all that is challenging "the one who has called us is faithful" and our first calling is to be faithful too. I hope in weeks to come to be able to share more of what was helpful and inspiring. It was a series of full days, so I am returning to plenty of calls and emails. I will prioritise what is pastorally urgent, so if you are waiting for other replies, please be assured I will get to them when I can.And a reminder - the Epilogues at Countisbury begin on Sunday 8.30pm.God blessSamantha