In this series we will be speaking to Local Leaders to find out why they chose to take on the role and their journeys to that point.

Here Mary Cooper Brown explains how she became involved in Mullion Church and her role as a Local Leader.

Mary  loves music, she always has, and it was music that led her to becoming a Licensed Lay Minister.

Born in Sussex she was brought up by her father, a professional musician, and her mother who was involved in the church and in charge of the Mother’s Union branch.

Mary says: “I am one of those Christians who has always been a Christian. I grew up in a Christian family. It was in my DNA.”

When she was a teenager in the 1960s, she heard some girls in another church were being allowed to sing – and she desperately wanted to as well.

She says: “Choristers only used to be boys. I was 13 and I badly wanted to be a chorister.

“I went to see the choir master at my church; I kept going on at him asking ‘why can’t I sing? Why can’t I sing?’ and eventually he gave in.”

Thanks to her never-give-up attitude, Mary, who is 68 this year, became one of the first female choristers in her church – Eastbourne Parish Church: St Mary’s.

As a chorister, attending church now became a regular event for Mary and her love of music never left. She was accepted into university in Huddersfield to study a degree in Music, Conducting, Composition, Piano and Singing. She then went to Exeter to complete a Post Graduate degree in Secondary Music.

“Music was a big part of my life and it continues to be,” she says.

In 1979, Mary moved to Cornwall to become the first Head of Music at the secondary school in Mullion. At this time, she wasn’t attending a church regularly but it was music that pulled her back.

She remembers: “I got a phone call one day from a lady who was involved in the Mullion Church. She wanted someone to play the organ for a family service she was organising. She knew I was the music teacher at the school and invited me to go along – and I blame her for bringing me back to church.”

Mary knew she would always go back to church as ‘it’s just something within me’, but this lady helped her back sooner – in her early twenties.

And she still attends today.

“It just needed someone to say, ‘can you come and help us?’,” she recalls.

Mary taught for 10 years before taking on various roles including Assistant Director for Education for the Local Education Authority.  However, she still found time to contribute her services to the church.

Today, she loves being involved in her church community and is a Licensed Lay Minister for Mullion, among other roles too.

“I do feel like I have been called to do this.” – Mary

She says: “When you do things you have been called to, you get a sense of satisfaction and knowledge that this is right.

“The thing I find rewarding about my role is being with people and like-minded people. I like being able to help and be involved with the local community.

“I also enjoy the traditions, like introducing a monthly Choral Evensong, as well as introducing new things like Café Church. But it is mostly about community and helping foster that.”

And her hopes for the future?

She reveals: “My hope is that more people will come forward to take on leadership roles in the church – we need them.”