THE newest vicar in Blackbird Leys is no ordinary woman.

Heather Carter has been a neonatal nurse, tackled terrorist attacks and cholera epidemics in South America and cooked for hundreds of homeless people.

Now she is setting to work on Oxford’s biggest estate, just in time to celebrate her 50th birthday.

The mother-of-three, who has joined the Holy Family Church, in Cuddesdon Way, said: “I was ordained in 2002 but I was a missionary in Peru and Uruguay from 1990 until 2004.

“It was fabulous but also difficult. We had the cholera epidemic in Peru and then it was the height of a terrorist campaign so there were lots of bombings, and then earthquakes.”

Prior to her travels, Mrs Carter was a neonatal nurse in High Wycombe.

And 20 years ago, she was travelling in South America with her husband and two children, aged just two and four months, in tow. Now children Luke, Bethany and Phillip are aged between 16 and 24.

The family was forced to come home when Mrs Carter, who was in a major motorbike accident when she was a teenager, suffered health problems.

She said: “At one point doctors told me I’d never walk again, but that wasn’t going to happen.

“I’m very determined.”

Following seven years at a church in Carlisle, she decided to take a year out and worked in a night shelter for homeless people in Bristol, cooking for 180 people at a time.

But with bills to pay, the vicar is now back in her cassock and geared up to get started in Blackbird Leys.

She said: “I always knew I wanted to go somewhere with diversity, life and where the church wasn’t rigidly stuck in prayer books.

“From what I’ve seen, Blackbird Leys will never be stuck anywhere. It feels full of life and the welcome I’ve received has been amazing – people dropping in or phoning up and coming round to help decorate the house.”

One of Mrs Carter’s first tasks is helping the church raise £120,000 for a new roof over the next year.

She will then move on to engaging with the estate’s young population.

“Churches are only alive as long as you have people coming in,” she said.

“I can’t wait to get started.”

Mrs Carter will be inducted at a service at 7.30pm on Monday, January 30.