AN east Cleveland woman will be joining her husband in the church when she is ordained this weekend.

Rachel Harrison, 48, from Brotton will be ordained as a deacon by the Lord Archbishop of York, in a ceremony at York Minster on Saturday. She will take up her role in the parish of Skelton with Upleatham at All Saints Church in Skelton, east Cleveland.

Her husband, Bruce, is already the vicar at nearby St Margaret's Church, in Brotton, and Mrs Harrison, who has been training for almost three years, is looking forward to her new role.

"I think it is something I have been building up to for a long while and it is a rite of passage on to the next stage of my ministry. It will be exciting and awesome because of the work that comes after the training."

She said she saw her role as very pastoral based and described herself as a "people person" especially with children and young people.

"I want to get alongside people and see what areas of work open up and see what people want me to be," she said