Meet our Honorary Chaplain

After two years as Honorary Chaplain to our Livery Company it is perhaps time that I introduced myself to readers of Coachlines, not least because should you want to chat to me about anything or ask for my help in any matter it would be good if you knew who I am.

After 18 years as a member of the permanent clergy staff at Norwich Cathedral – what is called a Residentiary Canon – I retired in 2017 and moved back to London where I had been ordained in 1983 and served curacies in Pimlico and Paddington. For three years I was Domestic Chaplain (Trollope’s Mr Slope!) to the Bishop of Chichester and then Vicar of Boxgrove with its beautiful priory church on the edge of the Goodwood estate. One of the perks of that job was annual membership of the Richmond Enclosure and the opportunity to be a visible priestly presence at Glorious Goodwood each year.

For 15 years I was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England and served on the Liturgical Commission, the Council for the Care of Churches, the Cathedrals Fabric Commission and the Church Commissioners Bishoprics and Cathedrals Committee.

For my work in the field of historic church buildings I was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and made a Chaplain to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – a huge privilege. In retirement I am an Associate Priest at St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, and I also help at other London churches when cover is needed.

Perhaps we have hobbies and enthusiasms in common? I am passionate about music and am a regular at the Royal Ballet and Opera in Covent Garden and at Glyndebourne and Garsington each summer. I love France, its food and wine, its wonderful Romanesque churches and abbeys, and I am fortunate to have a house in Burgundy, in the midst of some wonderful white wine producing countryside.

I collect antique Chinese export porcelain and, as I am fascinated by heraldry, I have a collection of nearly two hundred armorial pieces and, in addition, close on 100 decorative Chinese Imari plates, bowls, cups and saucers. Dare I admit to being a compulsive detective story reader and one who gains huge enjoyment from watching them on television!

This short biographical piece has inevitably been full of the word “I” and I offer my apologies. Most important is that I am Chaplain to the Coachmakers’ Company for you, not just to say Grace before our dinners but to be available either to help in any situation where you might think a priest would be useful or just to chat. I can be contacted easily through the Clerk.