friendsfirst Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE 

31st October 2005

FIRST BABY FOR VICARS WHO MET THROUGH CHRISTIAN DATING AGENCY

Two vicars in Lancashire were soon hearing church bells after their romance blossomed through Christian introduction agency friendsfirst.

Rev Ian Watts, 41, and Rev Rachel Simper, 37, were married in October 2004. They are  now looking forward to the birth of their first child next February.

Ian said: "We are definitely kindred spirits. But  I am sure we would have never met if it wasn't for friendsfirst. There is no reason why our paths would have crossed."

Although they both met many people in the course of their busy ministries, Ian said he had found it difficult to find single people in the right age group.  Rachel also was beginning to feel increasingly aware of the stigma of being a female single vicar.

Both Ian and Rachel prayed for guidance around the same time, and within a few days they both received a leaflet from friendsfirst. Rachel said: "'If you are asking God for guidance on something, there's only so long you can ignore what happens."

They both took the plunge and joined the agency around the same time. Rachel's letter was the first one Ian received. After exchanging letters for a short time, they met up and liked each other straight away. After an 18 month courtship they married.

The couple now minister in adjacent parishes and live in Rachel's vicarage.

Ian said: "Our bishops have been wonderfully supportive and our parishioners are just lovely. I don't think they have had a baby in the vicarage before and everyone is so looking forward to its arrival.

"We hope that through our family we can be a good model for work-life balance.  We both believe that the call to marriage and family life is as much a vocation as the call to the priesthood and one will complement the other.   We have been richly blessed."

For more information or pictures please contact

Katharine Gray at friendsfirst on: 0121 427 1286 or (07944 054 144 - not for publication) 

or the friendsfirst press secretary Jo Siedlecka on: 0207 267 3616

ENDS

Notes for Editors

Katharine Gray established friendsfirst in October 1999 to meet the needs of many single Christians across the country who may feel isolated from other single Christians. There is a growing number of single Christians in the UK, who are remaining single for longer because of work commitments and social lives which are not conducive to meeting sufficient Christians of the opposite sex outside of their immediate contemporaries in their own churches.

Name: friendsfirst. The service is called friendsfirst because the philosophy behind it is that friendships are vitally important and are at the heart of any good and meaningful relationship. Friendship should ideally be the foundation for anything else that may develop after a period of time.

Successes

To date there have been 30 marriages and a further number of engagements between ‘friendsfirst’ members.  These couples span every age group including couples in their 60’s and 70’s. The couples involved come from the following area’s Dudley, Tamworth, Essex, Liverpool, Manchester, Rugby, Wigan, Bolton, Birmingham, Bath, Cambridge, Darlington, Sheffield, Basingstoke, Bedfordshire, Cheltenham, Malvern, Walsall, Solihull, Cornwall, Stamford, Preston, Halesowen, Wolverhampton, Cambridge, Loughton, Somerset, Wiltshire, Cheshire, Lancashire,  Chesterfield, Halifax, Basildon, Windsor, Worcester, Nottingham, Tring, Lincoln, Maidstone, Loughborough, Stirling and Bristol.

For further information:

Katharine can be contacted on 0121 427 1286 and would be delighted to talk further about the organisation.