In farewell to our curate, Gabby, June Demont offers these words: "We have said goodbye to Gabby, our curate, after her all too brief a time with us. She came to us in June 2016 and has been a wonderful asset to parish life, entering it with enormous enthusiasm, and will be much missed by us all.

On a personal note I was able to see at firsthand how wonderfully she embraced all facets of parish life as I assisted at her first baptism, joined her for several evenings with our youth group and enjoyed being with her for Church Mice, our mother and toddler group.

She will be particularly missed by the 'Holy Dusters,’ the small group who work every Thursday morning to keep our church in good order. Early on in her time in the parish Gabby began joining us for coffee when her busy schedule allowed it. We knew what pressure she was under trying to balance the need to complete her thesis for her PhD with the demands of her work in the parish and were delighted when she achieved her goal and became the Rev Dr Gabrielle Thomas.

Goodbye, Gabby, our best wishes go with you. Our loss is Durham's gain."

From 9 October 2017, Gabby can be contacted at: