While the contentious issue of ordaining women as bishops rumbles on, 20 years ago this year women ministers were ordained as priests in the Church of England.

Then the issue of women priests was equally as difficult for some to countenance. Among the first to be ordained in Wiltshire was the Rev Gillie Baker, of Chirton.

Soon after she and her husband David moved to Chirton in 1986, Mrs Baker became a non-stipendiary deacon serving her village plus Urchfont, Marden, Patney and Stert while also working as a volunteer at Devizes Citizens Advice Bureau.

The then Archdeacon of Wiltshire, John Smith, and Mrs Baker’s parish priest at the time, Douglas Hancock, opposed the ordination of women priests. But support came from others, most notably Stella Collins, a deacon who worked with the Bishop of Salisbury at the time, John Baker, who was also in favour.

But parishioners remained split on the issue.

Mrs Baker, 74, said: “It seemed extraordinary that very nice people and very holy people just could not grasp there was no reason why a woman could become a priest.

“People were intrigued by it and I saw a lot of people turn from being ‘anti’ to being for it. Others genuinely didn’t feel it was right and that is still the case with a small number of people today.”

Mrs Baker even received personal abuse from one person but would not go into detail.

The Church of England authorised the ordination of women priests in 1992 and began ordaining them two years later. The selection process to become a priest was rigorous, consisting of three days at a venue in Northampton.

This included an interview with four members of the clergy and nerves were high as Mrs Baker and others waited their turn.

She said: “It was quite tough but I got through it. Afterwards I went round the corner and telephoned my husband and cried. I felt my answers were inadequate.

“We then had to wait for a letter to see if we had been successful. I didn’t really hold out much hope, then the letter arrived to say I was selected. I was absolutely overjoyed and a bit unbelieving.”

The day Mrs Baker and 37 other women were ordained as priests was June 11, 1994, St Barnabas Day, at Salisbury Cathedral. The following day she took her first service as priest at St Michael and All Angels Church, Urchfont.

Mrs Baker, who has three children and eight grandchildren, said: “The cathedral was absolutely bursting with people. It was a very special moment and people were very much in tears.

“These women had waited for so long and had been supported by so many people for so long. I just felt it was fantastic, very overwhelming.”

Mrs Baker, who thanked her husband for his support, had done chaplaincy at Erlestoke Prison during her training and after she was ordained as a priest she became the chaplain at the prison towards the end of 1994 and served there for seven years. She then became rector of the Redhorn team, retiring a few years ago. She still does pastoral work.