Church Stewards 2024-25

Malcolm Souter

I was brought up in the Methodist Church from childhood and have been a member from a teenager.  Although I was moved about the south of England during my career in trustee and executor banking, we always managed to find somewhere to live with a local Methodist Church.

I lived in Wokingham in the mid-1970s and then returned in 1986.  Both sons went to St Crispin’s and are now married and living in Leicestershire and York.

In 2003 Ann died and four years later I married Kate and ‘acquired’ two teenage children, now both married and living in Sussex.

Following redundancy/retirement from the bank I worked for 8 years with a local firm of solicitors, once again in the field of executorships and elderly clients but am now “properly” retired.

It seems difficult to believe that I have now been back at Wokingham Methodist Church for 36 years.

During that time I have been Gift Aid Secretary and still am, unless anyone would like to take over, and have been a church steward with each of the last four ministers.

It is a privilege to take on the role of a church steward again.

Sue Colbourn

Looking back, over the 30-odd years that I’ve been a member here at Wokingham, I realise what a big part our church has played in my life during that time. I have been a pastoral visitor and  a junior church leader;  I set up a beaver colony  - it must be over 25 years ago now (!) - and then a youth café and ‘Study with Your Buddies’, a homework club; I have been secretary to a couple of committees, and was Church Council Secretary during those busy years of redevelopment, a time when there was a flurry of fundraising activity, including a host of car boot sales, ‘The Rose Street Revels’, and pantomimes, all of which so many of us were involved in.  My children still have such very fond memories of those times, and so do I.

As my accent reveals, I hale from the Black Country. I was baptised into the Methodist Church at a little chapel in Tividale, between Dudley and Oldbury, where my paternal grandfather, who died, sadly, even before my dad met my mum, had been the youngest local preacher on the circuit.  The family moved to Kingswinford in 1966 where I attended Stream Road Methodist Church until I moved down to college, in Reading. I met my husband-to-be down here and we were married, back in Kingswinford, in 1983.

I taught English at The Emmbrook School, during the eighties, and part-time at St Crispin’s, in the nineties and noughties, but most of those years were devoted to bringing up the family.  Fifteen years ago, I discovered The Reader, a charity based in Liverpool; this triggered a huge shift for me as I returned to studying, for an MA at the University of Liverpool, and led to me working for The Reader, delivering Shared Reading Groups (reading great literature aloud with people, for emotional and mental wellbeing) in various settings -  from Wokingham Library to Reading Gaol to Prospect Park Hospital. I’m still running, and training people to run, such groups.  And how fortunate I feel, to be involved in work that I am so passionate about.

Becoming a church steward has always felt, for me, a daunting role to take on.  But sometimes there is a voice that cannot be ignored, and so, here I am, willing to give it my best shot, getting to know people better and serving, however I can, as part of a wonderful team of people who I know (from early experience!) will help guide me every step of the way.

Helen Ani

I was born and raised in Enugu, Nigeria.  I attended the local Methodist school, where I have good memories of early friendship in a very good close community.  My primary and secondary schools were involved in a lot of Methodist church events and activities.

I was trained in Science laboratory Analysis at The University of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.  I worked as laboratory technician for couple of years before I met my husband.  In 1991, we got married in the Methodist Church Enugu.

That same year, I came to UK to join my husband and lived in North London for two years before moving to Nottingham in 1993.  In 1996 we relocated to Wokingham, as my husband was working for BG Group in the Thames valley Park.  We were part of the Wokingham Methodist Church and my four children were all christened here before we moved to Egypt in 2000.  We lived there for five years before moving again to Trinidad and Tobago for two more years.  We moved back to Wokingham in 2007. 

I studied health and social care with The Open University whilst at home looking after my children and living overseas.  All these moves were as a result of my husband’s job relocations.

My past experiences have helped me to fully understand what it takes to care for children and communicate with people from various backgrounds and appreciate their culture.  I hope to bring these qualities to my work at Rose Street as a steward.

Margaret Wells

Judy Jones

I was born in Rugby to parents who were both Sunday School teachers at the local Methodist Church in Rugby.  When I was 4, we emigrated to Australia and returned to the UK some 3 years later, after an idyllic time for my sister and I, and being too far from “home” for my parents!

Back in Rugby, my childhood and youth were centred around the activities of our local Methodist Church with the usual Brownies, Guides and, of course, Youth Club on a Friday night.

I moved to London in 1964 to begin my nursing training at University College Hospital, qualifying in 1967.  It was whilst at UCH that I met and married Gordon who had been at University College, London.

We moved to Wokingham in 1973, and I transferred my membership when Maurice Wendt was minister here.  We have been married for 55 years and have 2 children and 2 grandchildren, Josh and Harry McBain.  Stephen and Penny “grew up” at Rose Street and were both active members of 5^th Wokingham Scouts, along with Andy McBain.

I have played an active part in the life of Rose Street and this is my 2^nd time as a Steward.  I have been chairman of Contact, Secretary to Concern & Outreach, a Circuit Steward, and Secretary to Church Council until recently.  I am still the Christian Aid representative, a Communion Steward, and now a member of the Sound team.  I am also on the Rose Street Theatre Club committee.

I hope now, as a steward, I can extend to others the welcome I have always received and serve you all well in my “new” role.

John Williams

I was brought up just to the south east of London and progressed through Bible Class and Youth Fellowship (where Deirdre and I met) into the local Baptist church where we married in 1964.  It was in London that I graduated in chemistry at about the same time as Deirdre trained as a teacher of domestic science (then cookery and needlework).  I worked as a research scientist all my life, starting with Unilever in Port Sunlight.  Later on I was with Tate and Lyle for almost 40 years - first employed in their research department and later self employed as a consultant.  This involved a lot of travelling and when far from home I was very encouraged by verses from Psalm 139.  “If I flew away beyond the east or lived in farthest place in the west, you would be there to lead me; you would be there to help me.”  While I was doing all this Deirdre made very profitable use of her needlework skills.

Early on in our marriage Deirdre and I spent some time in India with the Baptist Missionary Society.  On returning we settled in our home area, which is where our three children: Bruce, Deborah and Peter, were born.  But after 6 years we were uprooted when Tate and Lyle decided to move everyone to Reading.  Thus we came to Wokingham and joined the Baptist church where we served in many different ways until 2006, when, just after I retired, we felt it was right for us to move to Rose Street and were immediately made very welcome.

Retirement saw us very much enjoying travelling and I took on voluntary work, which continued until I needed start looking after Deirdre: until she died in 2021.  She had really enjoyed our Alzheimer’s Cafe so when it reopened after lockdown it seemed logical for me to help out there.

From 2009 to 2012 Deirdre and I served as Stewards, and when we moved on to being Welcome Stewards we reckoned that was probably the best job in the church.  I was very privileged to be part of our Strategy Group during the period when the group was instrumental in starting up the Food Bank and our Alzheimer’s Cafe.

Becoming a Steward again is rather a daunting prospect, but looking back and remembering how enjoyable Deirdre and I found it to be,  I am looking forward to it and to serving with the team.

Last year, we were sad to say goodbye to Mike and Liz Goddard after their long association with our church, but pleased to welcome Helen Ani, Sue Colbourn and Margaret Wells.  Judy Jones stepped in after Mike and Liz’s departure in the autumn.  This year, I will be stepping down as a steward, leaving the role of senior steward in the very capable hands of Malcolm Souter.  John Williams has kindly agreed to join the team; at the time of writing, that leaves one vacancy.

Post-Covid, most of our activities have returned to normal, with some changes; some meetings now alternate between in-person and on Zoom, which is sometimes more popular in the cold, dark months and enables more people to attend.  The service for the first Sunday after Christmas was held as a circuit service at Woosehill, and live-streamed, after a successful experiment the previous year.

During the summer, as an alternative to a children’s holiday group, we decided to host August Thursday Afternoons; a group for anyone – in practice, mostly older people – with board games, knit and knatter, music, story-telling and refreshments.  These afternoons were well-received, and following very positive feedback, will happen again this coming summer.

Occasionally something goes wrong in church, whether human or technical, and its then very clear what brilliant teamwork there is as everyone does their part to support the ministers, preachers and congregation.

I have so appreciated being part of this lovely team.

Kim Tame