As for a spiritual background, Anthea's grandfather was a Methodist minister, upon whom she prevailed to baptise her dolls. She worshipped with her family in Leeds, but showed rebellious tendencies at an early age by leaving the Brownies!
She later found her niche, however, through getting involved as a young person in the organisation of the worship for MAYC weekend, meeting kindred spirits through the MAYC orchestra and the Methodist Youth Choir and helping to transform the Weekend event to what it is today, wresting it from the grasp of those who thought it "important that young people learn good Methodist hymns".
In terms of her current outlook, Anthea was forced to ask why two aspects of her life - going to Church and being on the Council - did not touch, when they clearly should.
And there was not a Church in her ward, one of the poorest wards in Peterborough, so where is the Church when it is most needed?!
This is what led Anthea to apply for the job when she - quite literally - knocked the Guardian off the table one day and it fell open at the job advert. She read the person specification, decided that she met it, and so went for it.
Now, having got the job, Anthea can talk about things that matter to her, about the fact that the Church talks a lot about things that don?t matter very much, and that the Church is declining because of that, but that we have an awful lot to offer.
We have a lot of thinking to do about priorities, about what is going on "outside" the Church, (which is precisely our preoccupation), but we also need to bear in mind the demographics of the Church - we have an ever ageing congregation!
And then on the subject of "Let Your Light Shine", Anthea expressed the concern that people like us might be "out there", but with nobody bothering about us.
Questions brought forward comments about greater ecumenical co-operation on matters of social justice and social responsibility.
There are some fantastic examples of ecumenical co- operation, and other places where it should happen, but doesn?t. There were reassuring noises about the impact of the Anglican Methodist Covenant, and a general agreement that we are more interested in the "Kingdom" than in the survival of the church as we know it.
So now that Anthea has got past the stage of being mistaken for the new temp, which in itself says something about prejudices and preconceptions, she needs to hear our stories and to keep in touch with what is happening "on the ground".
The Cox and Ellis show.
David Wrighton reflects on that part of the 2003 Chaplains' Conference which was the ...
It was John in the background doing the Michael Parkinson bit, and allowing Anthea, our new coordinating secretary, to make an immediate impression just by being there, by taking time out from a very busy schedule to spend as much time as she could with us, and by being a breath of fresh air.
She is a comparatively young and attractive woman in a world where we are used to seeing the archetypal middle-aged (or maybe even older) white middle class and probably ordained man.
We told her about ourselves first - a brief presentation from each of three groups who had shared stories on the previous evening, giving three very different but complementary views.
These were about going out beyond where the Church normally goes to people who do not normally meet the Church, about being a presence - non-judgemental and empathetic, at the service of others - and about mediating, encouraging people to listen to each other. One group particularly emphasised the two possible views of one situation where management is talking about overheads and costs and "we have to let you go", while the employee is concerned about his life, his mortgage and his family.
And Anthea told us about herself. Born in Leeds, but she can't help that, now based in Peterborough, ending up there almost by accident via a degree in creative arts in Birmingham, and then starting a working life in the development of the creative arts in worship.
This brought surprise at how many people or groups wanted to tackle issues within their worship in this way, some of which was quite shocking. (That is shocking in the sense of being powerful, not of being bad!)
Then a crisis in a production of Grease in Peterborough brought a call for help, and Anthea has been in that town ever since, staying to develop a career in adult and community education around the performing arts.
Marriage happened - to Gordon, who works for EWS, the freight train organisation, and then came Ewan and George, now aged 10 and 6 respectively. And then, as if she didn?t have enough to do, Anthea started a company around the performing arts for people with learning difficulties.
Then came the involvement in politics, feeling the need to ask questions about economic regeneration, being instrumental in the introduction of an anti-poverty strategy in the city, dealing with failing social services, becoming a director of an NHS trust and even being a parliamentary candidate - albeit in an unwinnable seat against Brian Mawhinney.
Anthea even became the Leader of the labour group on the Council in Peterborough, to oppose a "racist and bullying" ruling party.
