High Sheriffs may appoint a Chaplain to attend on them and assist on matters of faith. The Chaplain will principally be involved with the church services for the judiciary that are arranged by the High Sheriff conventionally annually but may also participate in the High Sheriff’s year on other occasions, for example the Declaration Ceremony that follows the High Sheriff’s appointment by the Monarch. The Chaplain may also play a valuable role as adviser to the High Sheriff on inter-faith matters in the community. Miss Lesley Dale was licenced as a Lay Reader in 2022. A Lay Reader is a person authorised by a bishop (in this case the Bishop of Peterborough) to lead certain services or parts of services within a Church of England church. Alongside leading worship Lay Readers are also licenced to preach and carry out pastoral and teaching functions. Lay Readers are formally trained and admitted to the office, but they remain part of the Laity, not of the clergy. Licenced as a lay Minister in 2021 and as a lay Reader in 2022, Lesley serves in the Whittlewood Benefice, comprising five rural parishes set within south Northamptonshire, and mainly worships at St James the Great church in Paulerspury. She is also the safeguarding officer for the benefice and the keeper of the Paulerspury electoral roll. Lesley is also involved in supporting the next cohort of lay minister in training. After graduating from the University of Cambridge Lesley embarked on a career in teaching. Lesley started her teaching career in West Somerset, teaching geography and later leading the Humanities Department. Then she moved to her current position as an Assistant Headteacher at a large secondary comprehensive school in Milton Keynes. Here she teaches geography as well as leading on teaching and learning. When not in the classroom she enjoys supporting students through the Duke of Edinburgh Award for which she is a licenced assessor. Lesley is a Lead Delivery Partner for the University College London’s Early Career Framework. Through this role Lesley works with 90 schools of all phases across Milton Keynes, Dacorum and London supporting the training of teachers in their first two years of teaching and their mentors. A major part of Lesley life is Guiding. Starting as a Brownie then moving on through Guides, Rangers and Young Leaders until finally becoming an adult leader in 1995. Lesley has run various Rainbow, Brownie and Guide Units and she is currently an assistant leader of a rainbow group in Milton Keynes. Lesley has the honour of being a ‘Queen’s Guide’, this award was presented to her by Princess Margaret in 1998 at Kensington Palace.
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