Having travelled through time and space, a vicar has found herself landing at a Cotswold church.
The Revd Caroline Symcox is the new team vicar with the South Cotswold Team and will be based at St Mary’s Church in Fairford.
But as well as her regular duties as a member of the clergy, Caroline has also been known to give a helping hand to a certain Time Lord.
Caroline, who is moving to her new role from a curacy in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, has written audio books for Doctor Who – including one with her husband, acclaimed science fiction author Paul Cornell.
She said: “It does help that I am married to Paul. I co-wrote a story featuring the Eighth Doctor with him, called Season for Fear.
“I happened to be at Gallifrey One [a Doctor Who convention] and was speaking to Gary Russell, who is the editor of the audio range for a company called Big Finish. I pitched him an idea and he commissioned it there and then.”
The resulting story, The Council of Nicaea, sees the Fifth Doctor (played by Peter Davison) travel to the first great Church council with his companions. But as mobs roam the streets and violence erupts, it isn’t long before the Time Lord is faced with a dilemma of whether to get involved in history.
Having a background in theology, Caroline has also written The Vicar’s FAQ, which explains more about what vicars believe and do. But with the couple’s two-year-old son Thomas to look after, as well as focusing on her parish work, Caroline admitted that there was no longer much time to write as well.
She said: “Writing is certainly something I would like to get back into, but training as a curate and now taking on my own parish, I do need to focus on other things.
“I’m looking forward to getting started here. There is a lovely sense here of the church being at the heart of the town, and I want to see it taking an active role at the centre of this community.”
