On February 3rd I went to see Y3. They were going to ask me about my job and THEY DIDN'T think I just worked on a Sunday. In fact they asked all sorts of interesting questions - which had been typed up and were projected onto a whiteboard. How's that eh?

• The questions were like this:

• When did you want to become a Vicar? Actually it was when I was about 14. It was strange because our careers teacher Mr Bartlett asked everybody and when I said I wanted to be a Vicar he did't know what to say and everybody laughed

• What's the best part of your job? Strangely its visiting people for funerals because I believe the Christian faith has something wonderful to offer to those who have lost someone they have loved.

• What's the worst part of your job? Its when people think you're up to no good. I don't mind if they think I'm daft but there's nothing devious about me.

• Do you get paid? (nobody asked how much but its not a secret) Yes I do and its a good thing because otherwise I wouldn't have any clothes and I couldn't go to the pub on a Friday night to relax. At this point I got a few laughs and was able to point out that you should never get to the stage where alcohol becomes your master. If that happens you will be a very sad person.

• What kind of services do you take and how many? Well where do I stop? Its normally 3 on a Sunday but I could do a baptism in the afternoon as well. Sometimes there are are weddings on a Saturday and once I did three weddings in one day which involved a total of 12 forms plus all the preparatory work. At this point I had chance to warn prospective brides not to be late. There are always two assemblies - sometimes more - in the week. Sometimes I have to do funerals. So I don't get time to get bored with services. 

• What kind of clothes do you wear? It all depends what I'm doing. If its summertime and I'm relaxing - eg on a walk - its shorts and T shirt. If I'm working then its a back shirt with a dog collar, but like a lot of clerics now I don't always wear a suit. In church there were special clothes called vestments which usually told us what time of year we were in. After this we had a dressing up session with one "volunteer" from Y3 and an equally willing adult!

*Photographs appear with permission

DK 10-2-10