'There is much to celebrate in Violet’s legacy - and we are planning to do just that' 

2026 marks the centenary of the calling of Violet Hedger to the pastorate of Littleover Baptist Church in Derby.

To mark this important anniversary, and to celebrate all those women who followed in her footsteps, a centenary celebration is taking place on 11 October. Sarah Fegredo explains more

A Lady Preacher!

This is a tale of two big risk takers, or at least it would be if God was not at work leading and guiding all the way through. The first is a young woman who was so convinced of the calling of God on her life that she trained for Baptist ministry at Regents Park College, beginning in 1919, when she was 19 years old.

She completed her studies in four years and was noted as “a good preacher.”  However, she was not immediately snapped up by a church and spent two years visiting seven different churches, from Cornwall to West Yorkshire. 

The second risk taker was one of those churches. No Baptist church had ever had a college trained woman as their sole pastor so no one knew whether it was a good idea or not.  After several visits through the autumn of 1925, this church, Littleover Baptist Church in Derby,  decided that God was calling her to be their minister and so their “experiment”, as The Baptist Times called it, began on 7 January 1926.

The Revd Violet Hedger, BD was inducted and began her work. The local newspaper reported it, but it was so newsworthy that the story spread as far as Spokane on the west coast of America, and Australia.  Violet’s reputation as a preacher spread and she was much in demand all over the area, but she also started a number of ministries in the church and got involved in trans-local ministries, being elected as President of the Derby and District Baptist Union in 1928.

Violet's time at Littleover came to an end in 1929 and she moved on to other ministries, later in Halifax, where she had the distinction of being the first woman minister to be broadcast on the radio, and then on to ministry in Kent.

Violet Hedger may have been the first college trained woman minister, but she was not the last and many of us have followed in her footsteps both in ordained ministry and stepping up to leadership as deacons, preachers, teachers and many other roles. In the East Midlands Baptist Association, we are particularly proud that it was one of our churches that was willing to step out in faith and call a woman to their pastorate.

So, there is much to celebrate in Violet’s legacy and we are planning to do just that. We are holding a Celebration Service at Littleover Baptist Church. We want to recognise what Violet and Littleover Baptist Church achieved together, but also to recognise that their successful “experiment” opened the door for other women to respond fully to the God is calling them to.  We are delighted General Secretary the Revd Lynn Green will be our speaker and that we will be hearing stories for women who currently minister in the Association.

We want to celebrate not just the past but also to be inspired for the present and the future as new generations of women are considering what God might be calling them to.

Our Celebration Service is on Sunday 11 October at 3pm and all are welcome to attend. You can find out more and signup here.
 
I was also inspired by the article written by the Revd Dr Deborah Rooke in the Baptist Quarterly, and drew the information contained in this article from it. You can find it here.

 

The Revd Sarah Fegredo is a Baptist Minister with a Portfolio ministry, that includes her role as the Comms Lead with the East Midlands Baptist Association (EMBA)