Jamie Allen (priest)

Timothy James Allen (born 1971) is an Anglican priest.

Allen was raised in Woodbridge, Suffolk. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1999, at the age of 28, after first working as a DJ and as a Religious Education and English teacher. He was a curate for 3 years at St Mary's Abbey in the parish of Nuneaton until 2002, when he was appointed Rector of Seend, Bulkington and Poulshot.

Jamie Allen and his family were the subject of an eight-part Tiger Aspect Productions British television documentary and reality television programme A Country Parish. This covered the family's move from Nuneaton to three traditional village parishes in Wiltshire. The series was filmed over the course of a year, and examined the life of a clergy family and the dilemmas of parish ministry. The series included stories such as :

The series attracted a large viewing audience and there was huge media attention and interest. In 2003 Jamie moved from Wiltshire and resumed ministry in a less-publicized location. He served as a priest in Buckinghamshire before becoming the vicar of St Andrew's Parish in Great Cornard in late 2005.

In 2009, Allen moved with his wife, Suzy, and his four children - Danii, Carrie, Katy and Roxy, to be vicar, and then dean, of the newly consecrated Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary, New Zealand. The cathedral was consecrated on 6 March 2010,and Allen was installed as its foundational dean.

Earlier in 2009, Allen's second child, Carrie, had been diagnosed with a rare form of soft-tissue cancer - rhabdomyosarcoma. She was given front-line treatment of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and surgery to remove the lump in her arm. The family moved to New Zealand just as Carrie completed this treatment, and for some time the cancer was in remission. Tragically, it returned meta-statically in 2011. In 2012, a fundraising concert (called "Carrie's Concert") was held at Taranaki Cathedral hosted by Carrie - with over $8000 raised to benefit the Child Cancer Foundation and CanTeen - at which Dave Dobbyn performed.

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