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About us / Meet the team / Joan Dewhirst

A Yorkshire girl, Joan now lives in Pilgrims Hatch with her well walked dog Susie. She has been a member of Sawyers since 2002. A retired teacher, she spent 40 years in a profession she is still passionate about, so much so that she spends much of her time taking Assemblies in many of the local Primary Schools and being a Trustee of the Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust. This interest and commitment to children and young people is reflected in Joan's role as part of the Safeguarding Children Team as the Deputy Child Protection Co-ordinator at Sawyers

Having retired, her first task was to care for her 96 year old Mother, living in Suffolk. For a number of years until her Mum's death in 2007, Joan was absent from Church most of the time and was dependant on the love and support of the Church Family. She is still very needful of this care as she supports her sick brother and his partner living in Bury St Edmunds. The last few months have been a steep learning curve for Joan as she has sought to know where and how God would have her serve the church family that loves and cares for her. Joan's deep desire is to enable all at Sawyers to know the ‘comfort and compassion' of God in their lives. She believes that to carry out Jesus' instructions to "love one another as I have loved you" means accompanying people on their life journey in good as well as difficult times. Joan knows that this is a crucial and challenging task but one that with God's help she will seek to fulfil.