Northampton vicar celebrated among 100 influential disabled people in UK

A Northampton rector, with a parish of more than 30,000 people, has been named as one of the most influential people with a disability in the UK.

Haydon Spenceley plays a huge part within the Eastern District of Northampton mostly as team rector of Emmanuel Church in Weston Favell but he also acts as an informal counsellor to his parishioners and leads school assemblies about faith.

This week, Haydon has been named among 100 influential people on The Shaw Trust Disability Power list, as voted for by judges, beating 200 others to the top spot.

He said he hopes his cerebral palsy has shown others that they shouldn’t hold back - and can even be part of a rock band, as he is.

“The fact that I'm disabled is part of me, and if me being disabled and doing the stuff I do is in some way influential or inspirational then that's great,” he said.

“It might mean that someone else in the next generation might think that they could aspire to things, which they have not previously thought about.

"I grew up not thinking there was much chance for me in the wider world because there definitely was not that many people with my condition who did stuff in the public eye.”

Haydon was ordained in 2014 and became a Church of England minister, training at Emmanuel and then becoming team rector in 2017, after pushing aside his music career.

Haydon leads one of the largest and farthest-reaching parishes in the area and helps to serve 14 housing estates, 13 schools and more than 30,000 people.

Haydon added: “I’m growing as a leader in the church and trying to use whatever influence I have for good and to improve opportunities for those who come after me.”