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You can search the diocesan database for parishes and mission communities and to find out contact details for clergy, readers and parish officers, where they have given their permission to be included.

Benefice Details for Heavitree and Saint Mary Steps

Archdeaconry: Exeter
Deanery: Christianity

Clergy in the benefice

The Rev Jolyon Seward
Vicar, Heavitree TM with special responsibility for St Lawrence

St Lawrence Vicarage, 36 Lower Hill Barton Road, Exeter, EX1 3EH
Tel: 01392 677152
Email The Rev Jolyon Seward

The Rev Andrew Johnson
Assistant Curate

Elm Brook House, 348 Topsham Road, Exeter, EX2 6HF
Tel: 01392 425201
Email The Rev Andrew Johnson

The Rev Alexander Hobbs
Assistant Curate

10 Sherwood Close, Heavitree, Exeter, EX2 5DX
Tel: 01392 677153
Email The Rev Alexander Hobbs

Parishes in the benefice

Heavitree with St Paul Exeter

Saint Mary Steps

Exeter Cathedral ordination services to be livestreamed for first time

Sixteen new curates are being ordained into the Church of England this weekend in a series of Covid-secure services at Exeter Cathedral led by the Bishops of Exeter, Plymouth and Crediton. Instead of one big service there will be four separate ceremonies with four people being ordained at each one. As with weddings and funerals, there will be just 30 people present at each service instead of the usual 2000 who would attend normally. The…

New Mayflower pilgrimage to mark 400th anniversary

A Devon vicar is leading a new pilgrimage from Dartmouth to Plymouth to mark the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower this month. The Reverend Martin Warren and his fellow pilgrims will set off from Dartmouth Embankment on Friday 11 September following a short blessing ceremony. Rev’d Warren’s route follows the South West Coast Path from Dartmouth to Plymouth and will visit churches along the way. The walkers will arrive at the Mayflower…

New Children’s Advisor back to what she “knows and loves”

For Helen Williams, her new role as the Diocese of Exeter’s 5-11s Children’s Mission Advisor, means she is back on familiar ground. Helen grew up on her family farm in Hemyock, near Cullompton. She has spent the last four years working for a church in Richmond but says she is glad to have returned to the South West. “It feels really lovely to be back here again in our beautiful county, to what I know…

Devon curates train to become military chaplains

For the last three years Rev’d Huw Riden has been a curate in Exmouth, but he is now swapping his clerical robes for military fatigues as he begins training to be an army chaplain. Huw is a former member of the Parachute Regiment and his Littleham, Exmouth & Lympstone Mission Community has included Lympstone Royal Marine Commando Training Centre. “I couldn’t have asked for a better place to have served my curacy,” he said. Huw’s…

East Devon Arts Festival Goes Online

Each year, the Parish Church of St Thomas of Canterbury in Thorverton is turned into an art gallery for the East Devon Arts Festival (EDAF). This year would have marked the 50th year the festival has been running, but due to COVID-19, the church has been unable to hold the event and has instead created virtual art and craft exhibitions on Facebook. The Arts Festival is usually a significant fundraising activity of the church, raising…

Torquay vicar’s daring church spire climb
A Devon vicar has overcome his fear of heights to climb the 165ft spire of his church to raise funds for community outreach. The Reverend Sam Leach was joined by three other members of the leadership team to climb the steeple of St Mary Magdalene church (known as St Mags) in the centre of Torquay. A crowd turned out to watch the climb on Thursday 20 August, with dramatic drone footage captured by a member of…
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Stepping Out of the Boat: An Online Service by the Archdeacon of Exeter
The Archdeacon of Exeter is leading an online service on Sunday 9 August, on the subject of ‘Stepping Out of the Boat.’ The Venerable Andrew Beane, Archdeacon of Exeter, said: “Perhaps we can all think of a time when we have had to take a risk, try something new, a moment when we like Peter in our Gospel Reading have had to ‘step out of the boat’, and trust God as we head out on…
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Exe Estuary Pilgrimage Brings Light After Lockdown
A Devon vicar and former Royal Marine is leading a one-day walking pilgrimage from Exeter Cathedral to Exmouth to celebrate the re-opening of church buildings after lockdown and raise money for charity. The Reverend Steve Jones and others will set off from the cathedral on Saturday 11 July, following a short service led by Canon James Mustard and a blessing by the Bishop of Exeter. They will be carrying a candle lit from the Cathedral’s…
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Online service to say thank you to the NHS
The Bishop of Crediton is leading an online service on Sunday 5 July to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the NHS. The Service of Thanksgiving was filmed in the chaplaincy of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. It features contributions from NHS staff, including an Emergency Care Assistant from South Western Ambulance Service. There are reflections from former medics who worked in the NHS from its earliest days, including Henry Gossman, a former neurosurgeon who…
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Thy Kingdom Come Zoom Prayer Room is a Hit
The Reverend James Grier is a happy man. The Diocese of Exeter’s Mission Enabler had been worried that running a continuous 10-day, 24 hours a day prayer room on Zoom would be hard to get people to sign up to and he would end up doing the lonely overnight slots on his own. But in the end, the prayer room, which was part of the international Thy Kingdom Come prayer initiative, exceeded expectations. Over 500…
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