The Rev pamela Luca wears a nose stud and admits to being accident prone, used a vibrant Christmas service to bid farewellto her flock atr St Mary's parish Church, in Easington Villiage.

THE 1861 census records that the 72-year-old Rector of Easington shared the handsome, 17-roomed parsonage house with his wife, two middle-aged daughters, a curate, butler, cook, two ladies' maids, laundress, house maid, kitchen maid and footman.

Easington Village always was a living that had not been in vain. A 14th century incumbent became Pope Clement VII, another rose to the see of Canterbury, a third not only became Bishop of Durham but Patriarch of Jerusalem and King of the Isle of Man as well.

Times change. The building became too large and rectors less prosperous, notes a guide to the splendid, 12th century, St Mary's parish church. It may be seen as an understatement.

These days the job also embraces the former colliery parishes of Easington Colliery and South Hetton, and with not so much as a housemaid to mop the clerical brow after a hard shift curing souls.

The last rector left a year ago and has still not been replaced. Priests, it is said, have been approached and declined to move.

The three churches are in the charge of the Rev Pamela Lucas, a diminutive curate with a nose stud who is described by one churchwarden as "lovely", by the other as "a very remarkable girl" and by herself as "one of the most accident prone priests in the diocese".

That, too, may be understating matters. There was the nasty fall in the street, the Sunday morning when she tumbled down the back of the altar and was on crutches for three months and, in October 2002, the car crash which left her unable to drive for a year and with a permanent brain injury. "It's what you get for head butting the steering wheel," she says, cheerfully.

On Sunday, at the end of an "all age" service that was family-friendly, hugely happy, vibrant, uplifting and thronged like Tesco on Christmas Eve, she announced that she was leaving and will join a convent as a postulant.

"Maybe my leaving will prompt someone to come," she said.

The convent is in Surrey, a long way from Easington and from her parents in Gateshead but mercifully close to a Greggs bakers' shop.

"You haven't lived until you've eaten a Greggs pasty," said Pamela afterwards. The PR department should send her a sleigh load.

Last weekend was St Mary's "Celebration of Christmas", planned for eight months by Dorothy Green and her energetic team and all the more remarkable because Dorothy commutes from Darlington to her home village.

Broadly, it was an exploration of Christmas down the ages, full of meaning and sometimes of merriment. "We wanted to show that Christmas wasn't just plum pudding but its true message," said Dorothy. The church looked truly fantastic. The service, inspired and inspiring, also included the dedication of a bishops' chair and Easter altar vestments in memory of Brian Haswell, a former churchwarden and diocesan official, and the baptism of Christina Rose Hogan, big and bonny and just 12 weeks old.

It wasn't the first time, perhaps, that Pamela Lucas had been left holding the baby.

Christina, like all the other bairns, behaved impeccably. The poor curate seemed a bit like Old Mother Hubbard, except that she knew precisely what to do.

Perhaps a first for a Church of England pulpit, she began her sermon by singing the first verse of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - "a song that tells you how to behave if you want Christmas presents".

Since we were in church, she added, the talk would be about how to behave when someone special was coming and, for the adults, about repentance.

"Repentance isn't just about saying sorry when you've done summat wrong, but about not wanting to do it again."

She will remain, she said at the end, until Easter. "I haven't always had the easiest of times here in my ministry and we can't pretend other.

"Despite what has happened, I want you to know that I have loved being with you and how grateful I am for the times you have supported me.

"I shall miss running three churches, but I hope you will understand that it's time for me to leave."

Immediately afterwards, she'd to race down to Easington Colliery, thence to South Hetton, in turn to break the news. We spoke again a couple of days later.

The hard times, said Pamela, had been because of her chapter of accidents. Getting about on public transport had greatly added to her difficulties, especially after the altar ego trip.

"I wondered why there was no one coming to help me, but apparently they thought I was praying. I didn't say a word, I was just in absolute shock, but I don't usually pray down the back of the altar."

Supported either side, she managed to finish the service before being taken to Hartlepool hospital where serious knee ligament damage was diagnosed.

She had been a social worker in Glasgow and in Northumberland, always felt she wanted to serve God. "I wanted to bring hope and reconciliation, but the religious life was always there as well.

"I shall miss the Easington folk terribly; I love them to bits."

Brian Rogers, churchwarden, said that one of Pamela's great qualities was that she'd never forgotten where she came from. Jean Forster, his colleague, said she'd be a really big miss - "a totally different character from anyone we'd ever seen before".

The Christmas celebration continued with talk about what might happen after Easter. As Brian Rogers had put it, a very remarkable girl.

ANOTHER harbinger of the festive season, a Christmas tree festival takes place today and tomorrow in St Paul's church, Spennymoor.

Around 40 trees of different sizes will be displayed, each decorated with a theme reflecting religion, hobbies or interests.

Money raised from the event will be shared equally between the Great North Air Ambulance and the church.

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