At sixteen I rated God alongside Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy, but at university, I was persuaded to go to the “Mission to Oxford” that John Stott was conducting and found a faith for life. It’s been an interesting life, including following my husband’s career to Uganda (before Idi Amin) and Ethiopia (in the last days of Haile Selassie) but we finally ended up in Holbrook in 1975, when my husband joined the staff of the Royal Hospital School. Our fourth daughter was just a year old, and I remember pushing the pram up and down the hill between RHS and the church every Sunday morning, with the other girls in tow, to claim their place in God’s family here in Holbrook.

I taught (English) at Northgate School and then RHS until 1998. The following year I was licensed as a Lay Reader, which is a teaching and preaching ministry, and am now in my 21st year of service at All Saints. I have loved being part of the church community for 45 years and value the support it gave me through the loss of my husband and, 9 years later, our eldest daughter. I currently organize our parish “Comfort Corner,” a self-support group for the bereaved, because I know what a help it is to have someone to talk to. In Children's work I organise the ChurchesTogether "Open the Book" team, which takes dramatised Bible stories into the Primary school 4 or 5 times a term. I love taking groups around our listed 14th century church building and surprising them with its fascinating story. Ring and ask me if you would like a tour!