Heanor,
St Lawrence Church.
Meet us.
The church is more than just a building, but here are a few of the faces you are likely to meet:
Lisa Shemilt
The Revd. Lisa Shemilt became Associate Minister of St Lawrence’s Heanor in September 2016
Lisa served her curacy at St John’s Walton in Chesterfield and was ordained in 2005 in Derby Diocese Prior to ordination she worked in elderly care, having trained as a General, Psychiatric and Community Health Nurse and Midwife in South Africa and worked as a Midwife before coming to England.
Lisa enjoys art and music and loves reading- especially a nice soothing, gentle murder mystery. She enjoys fine dining and good wine!
She sees church as a community where people of all ages from all walks of life find a place, where they learn together to love and worship God, and bear testimony to Jesus Christ by their attitudes, words, and actions, a place where the lost and the broken can find healing and release and where life in all its many shades can be celebrated.
Kate Morley
Kate has worshipped at St Lawrence's since 1989. She has taken on various roles within the church including P.C.C member, churchwarden, deanery synod rep and worship committee, but the role she enjoys the most is as pianist. She loves singing and has very eclectic musical tastes. A member of Heanor Community Choir, she has recently enjoyed learning new skills whilst singing with the altos.
Kate completed the Education for Ministry course a few years ago and loves discussions around faith as well as being part of St Lawrence's inclusive, learning, open and welcoming community.
Kate is passionate about music, reading (mostly murder mysteries and victorian authors), cross stitch, creativity in its many forms, nature, Sean Connery, history and cooking. Perhaps surprisingly she enjoys watching horror and supernatural films!
Kate is married and has two grown up children and two grand-children. She has grown up and lived locally all her life.
Leonie George
Although born in Sussex with a spell in India I spent the vast majority of my childhood and early adulthood in idyllic rural Devon where most of my family live today.
I came to Heanor in 1989 with our first son Tom and Mark my husband who I had met at Bradford University. I was soon an active worshipping member of St Lawrence Church and became part of the Caterpillar Team. During this time I had Peter my youngest son who is born and bred in Heanor (well QMC actually seeing as the Maternity Home had shut down at this point!!)!
Having worked for Stepping Stones, teaching for a bit I then found myself at Corfield Infants School, studying at the National College of School Leadership I now find myself part of the Senior Leadership Team in my present day role as School Business Manager at Mundy C of E Junior School where I have now been for the past 19 years.
In 1989 I began my adult Christian journey at St Lawrence Church.
Cedric Blakey soon commandeered me onto the PCC and I have been a serving member ever since (probably well over 20 years!) I served as Churchwarden during Cedric’s ministry through interregnum and into Ian and Diane Pallett’s ministry, during this time I led the Infants section of the Holiday Clubs which were run during the summer holidays and ran the Children’s Group for a number of years. I have also supported Messy Church when it was first founded.
On Dan and Kristy’s departure I found myself Lay Chair of the PCC and have thoroughly enjoyed this experience during the interregnum. I also serve as Acting Chair for Heanor Vision and a trustee and committee member of the Heanor Grammar School Action Group and CIO, Community Fair committee and the Mundy Junior School Horticultural Show.
I have many interests such as Chickens, gardening, nature, the environment, arts and crafts, my family and friends. But as anyone who knows me would agree, I have a passion for community, regeneration, Heanor and people and believe in building bridges and relationships across our town to encourage a community that we are all proud of that is vibrant and flourishes, and one that we all deserve and can call ‘HOME’.
Ann Turner
I have been a member of the church all of my life having been baptised, confirmed and married in St Lawrence’s.
I am also a reader in the diocese of Derby which means I am authorized and licenced by the bishop of Derby to lead certain services of worship when the vicar is not present.
There are around ten thousand readers in the Church of England.
Anne Musson
Anne was born in Essex but has lived in Heanor since the age of four. She has worked in Further Education for 18 years, supporting young people to achieve their qualifications and move onto their chosen careers. Along the way she has also worked in accounts, has run Writers’ Weekends and qualified and practices as a counsellor and coach.
Whilst having a faith for many years Anne never found a place to worship that ‘fit’. That was until she walked into St Lawrence Church on Good Friday 2018. That day saw a massive change in Anne’s life – at a difficult time she found that God is loving and kind and generous and that the community that is St Lawrence’s embodied all those things. As her faith deepened, she was confirmed in September 2018 by Bishop Jan.
When the role of Church Warden became vacant – for many reasons it didn’t seem to be the right time for Anne to take up this role – but God seemed to have other ideas and everything seemed to lead her towards this path – she took up the post in 2019 – and she has been very grateful for the support everyone has shown her as she has found her way into this new role.
When not working Anne enjoys crafting, listening to audiobooks, reading, knitting, sewing and really doing anything that uses colourful materials! (especially rainbows!)
Dawn Lonsdale
Dawn grew up in the North East of England, studied Archaeology at Durham University in the 1980s. She has a husband, three grown up offspring and two grandchildren. Dawn likes gardening, working with textiles, music, stories, fresh air, and exploring; especially remote Scottish islands.
Dawn has worshipped at St Lawrence’s since 1987, where she has served as Churchwarden twice (1988 to 1994 and 2017 to 2023), as a member of the PCC and Worship Committee and as an occasional informal worship leader. Dawn is currently Musical Director at St Lawrence's and has completed the Bishop’s Certificate and four year Education For Ministry programmes.
She has been Lay Vice President of Derby Diocesan Synod and a Diocesan vocations adviser. For 12 years Dawn was a Mentor in the Education for Ministry international discipleship development programme and has been a member of the UK management Committee.
Dawn Lonsdale is Chief Officer of Unlock, a national Christian charity working in deprived urban communities. Previously she was Laity Development Adviser for Derby Diocese, coordinating adult education opportunities for everyday Christians in Derbyshire. She has chaired the National Executive of the Anglican Adult Education Network.
Terry Smith
Little is known about this mysterious man's past other than that he used to be a infamous buccaneer called "The Fox" due to his fiery red hair and temper.
Outside of his overly vivid imagination Terry hates being "on the wrong end of the camera" and prefers instead to subject other people to having their photos taken so it's taken a number of years to stop him ducking away from a camera.
He has been coming to St Lawrences for approximately 12 years and is currently an enquirer about ministry with Derby Diocese. Most Sundays he can be found running the projector, or sound system during the service.
He prefers "church gopher" to most job titles. He currently runs the church website and library.
We aim to have photos and a short biography of each of the Pharocial Church Council members available in the near future, special bounty hunters have been hired to capture the more camera shy of them.