Faith In The Law

I’ll just put you through to the Chief Constable,” were words that chilled my bones, until I remembered I was on the right side of the law, and about to interview Sara Thornton about her childhood.

The Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, 50 last December, will be letting her guard down to reveal whether her glass-ceiling breaking career was a product of her upbringing or not, when she discusses growing up in a vicarage this weekend at the Bloxham Festival of Faith and Literature.

Born in Poole and brought up in a Liverpudlian diocese, her father being a parish priest, she is reflective but careful when talking about the subject, but remembers vividly her first brush with the police – one that made a vital and lasting impression.

“When I was 10 years old my mother was taking my sister to the dentist and my father had been called out to see a dying parishioner, otherwise he’d have never left me. So I was at home alone when I heard the door shaking and realised someone was trying to break into the house.

“The police came and rescued me very promptly and I can remember how scared I’d been, and that made a big impression on me.”

That’s the understatement of the year considering the girl in question went on to become chief constable to the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales.

“Yes, but I think while the clergy is primarily of course about God, you are also ministering to people, which is the parallel of the police because in church you see the best and worst of people as well – you try to help them in both and make things better, so we have the same advantages, it’s a practical thing.”

Good training then for someone about to enter the police force. But what were the realities? “Well the vicarage is basically a community building that’s used by the church and parishioners for social events, so you meet a real mix of people. I remember we had two sets of mugs, ones we would use and ones for the homeless who would leave them on the steps afterwards.”

Wasn’t that hard as a teenager? “Well it’s hard enough growing up sometimes without any expectations of how you should be behaving. “So it was a pressure, especially for girls, who are supposed to be more compliant, because if you are going to rebel, people are going to know about it.”

Neither were they well off, even though Sara’s family lived in a fairly affluent area in Liverpool, because a clergyman’s salary didn’t stretch far. “The phrase as poor as church mice is appropriate,” Sara laughs, “so while we lived in a huge house, my friends used to say it was warmer outside than in, because we could never afford to heat it.

“But in terms of making you ambitious – one of the things you have is lots of books and no money – studying was encouraged, as was working hard at school, which helps you to focus on your ambition.

“And even at home, there was an absolute sense that simple things like answering the telephone were very important, because the line that my friends rang was the same as the one people used to arrange funerals and weddings, so you had to be polite and efficient all the time.”

Parish priests are also notoriously busy, so was that something that Sara resented? “We always used to say that for my father Saturdays meant weddings and Sundays church, so his weekends were busy, and although he had a day off in the week, we were at school then, so there was a sense of my father not being around. And yet his study was in the house so in other ways we saw more of him than most dads with a 9 to 5 job.”

Does this mean that Sara is still a church-goer then? “I’m a traditional Anglican so go to church on Sundays – Christ Church when in Oxford and Dorset at weekends. “It’s nice to get away and I like the sea,” she says simply, unable to go into more details from a safety point of view. “You have to be careful about how much of yourself you share because I’m not a local celebrity. “What I care about is making Thames Valley as safe as possible,” she reiterates, reflecting on her 12 years with the force – seven of them as Chief Constable.

And is that hard to juggle with being the mother of two sons? “Of course it’s difficult because being a senior police officer takes up serious amounts of time and energy. You just have to be very well organised,” she says matter-of-factly.

And with that her time is up. But with so much on her plate, it’s great the Chief Constable can appear at the Bloxham Festival of Faith and Literature on Saturday at 11.30am at all. “MP Tony Baldry asked me to do it and while I’ve done a few church things I thought it was an interesting request and I’m happy to share my story,” she says.

Sara Thornton will be discussing Was it Murder at the Vicarage? a debate based around author Noel Streatfeild’s book A Vicarage Family.
The Bloxham Festival of Faith and Literature is being held at Bloxham School near Banbury from tomorrow to Sunday.
To see the programme and book tickets, see bloxhamfaithandliterature.co.uk or call 0845 017 6965.