There was a double celebration at All Saints' Church at the weekend when the congregation welcomed a new priest -- and congratulated their team vicar on 35 years in the ministry.

Rev Maureen Taylor was ordained at St Albans Abbey on Sunday and presided over her first Eucharist that same evening.

The 62-year-old mother of four from Loom Lane, Radlett, has been at the church in Shenley Road, Borehamwood, for one year, under the tutelage of Rev Margaret Partridge.

Although Margaret is the same age as her pupil, she marked 35 years of working as a Christian minister on Tuesday.

Maureen said: "I'm so lucky to be working with Margaret and All Saints has a lovely congregation. It's tremendous to be able to benefit from her experience."

At 33, Margaret travelled from her first diocese in Birmingham to Rhodesia -- now Zimbabwe -- where she spent ten years working at a Christian mission and a further six at the Cathedral in the nation's capital. She came to Borehamwood in 1989, took over responsibility for All Saints in 1992 and was among the first Anglican women to be ordained priest at St Albans in 1994.

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