A MOTHER-of-three and a City banker are among new members of the clergy who have been ordained to work in East London this week. They are among 36 graduates from varied backgrounds including 10 women from theological colleges ordained by the Bishop of London at a ceremony at St Paul’s on Saturday

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A MOTHER-of-three and a City banker are among new members of the clergy who have been ordained to work in East London this week.

They are among 36 graduates from varied backgrounds including 10 women from theological colleges around the country ordained by the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, at a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday.

They join the Diocese of London as deacons, assistants to parish vicars, as the first step towards priesthood.

Mum-of-three Jane Hodges, 47, has been appointed at the Church of England’s Poplar team in one of the East End’s most dseprived quarters.

She has worked in housing and social care for 22 years in Hackney and has also spent time in Nicaraguar among the poor—in between raising her family of boys.

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Former banker Stuart Lee, 42, who spent 22 years with Barclays as a top data analyst, has been appointed deacon at St John-on-Bethnal Green.

Former student pasteur Ed Dix, 32, who has spend time among the poor of Nepal, has been appointed at St Paul in Shadwell, near the Tower of London.

Former management consultant Fraser Dyer, 44, goes to St Peter de Beauvoir Town in Dalston, while Lincoln Harvey, 39, goes to St John-at-Hackney and Naomi Ngururi, 35, to the Hackney Marsh team at Christchurch-on-the-Mead in Homerton.

The Bishop of Stepney, The Rt Rev Stephen Oliver, said: “Their varied backgrounds and experiences will complement the clergy we have already working in our parishes in East London.”

Two deacons, father-of-three Dr Aneirin Glyn, 33, and Tom Nash, 26, have been appointed at St Helen Bishopsgate, in The City.