St Mary's Church, Dymock

Dymock was at the forefront of the 'Local Ministry Team' movement, having had ministry shared by Ordained and Lay persons for over 40 years. This shared concept was formalized by our diocese into a 'Local Ministry Teams' (LMT) where spiritual care and management of the parish is shared by both ordained priests and lay persons acting together.
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We currently have one full-time priest (the vicar) who is in charge of the 'United Benefice of the Leadon Vale' and four retired clergy who assist - one retired from a career in commerce, one retired from a career as a Teacher and two retired full-time priests, plus 2 Assistant Curates in training. There are also 2 'Lay Readers' and 2 'Lay Pastors', as well as several regular members of the congregation who regularly work with the Team. There are also 4 honorary PCC Appointees: Secretary, Treasurer, Organist/Choirmaster and Bell Tower Captain.
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The Ministry Team serves the whole of the Benefice, which comprises 9 parishes with 9 churches (+1 'redundant' church) and 4 Church of England primary schools.
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For details of Dymock's officers, click here: Priests, Curates, Readers & Lay Pastors, Churchwardens, PCC Appointments

Priest

Interim Minister: Our last Priest-in-Charge (Rev'd Kat Mepham) resigned from October 2024 and moved on to a new benefice, so a local retired priest, Rev'd Canon David Bowers, was appointed as 'Interim minister' in charge whilst a full-time replacement was sought. Unfortunately, we still have not got a replacement vicar so Canon David has reliquished the post and been replaced by Rev'd Canon Philippa Brunt, nominally until the end of June 2026.

Philippa and her husband, Jeremy, live in nearby Highnam. They have three grown up children, two of whom live in Ledbury, plus three grandchildren who attend Ann Cam School. After working as a teacher, Philippa was licensed as Children’s Officer in our Diocese in 1994, ordained deacon in 1998 and priest in 1999. She served her curacy in Cinderford and Littledean before being inducted as Vicar of Parkend and Viney Hill and was Area Dean of Forest South in our diocese for 7 years before retirement.
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Associate Priests

The Rev'd Andrew Perry is married to Janet and they have two daughters. He became a lay member of the Dymock Local Ministry Team (LMT) at its formal inception in 1981 and was ordained in 1994 as a Non-Stipendiary Minister (NSM*), when he was licensed as an Associate Priest to the Benefice as a whole until he retired as an NSM in 2014. He now has the 'Bishop's Permission to Officiate' so still takes Services and helps in the Benefice.
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Before he was ordained, Andrew trained as an Agriculturist and worked first as a manager of farms, but then for 20 years as a Grain Trader, managing a local grain co-operative before he retired from business. He was heavily involved with the Rotary Club of Ledbury's 'Tobago Diabetic Foot-care Project' to assist medics in the Caribbean to be aware of, and treat, those suffering from Diabetes, thereby reducing the previously high number of foot and leg amputations per year... and is fanatical about his lawn!
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*NSMs are now part of a larger group called SSMs - Self-Supporting Ministers. They are full priests but earn their living and practice their ministry by working in industry and commerce. NSMs are a nation-wide ministry so can be asked to serve anywhere, which may mean they have to move house and job, although that's unusual as they usually serve in a benefice or parish near to where they live. (Return to top)

The Rev'd Canon Richard Franklin is married to Ann, a retired Psychologist. They have two grown up children; Kate married to Jan with two sons in Bristol, and Thomas who lives in Berlin. Richard was born and grew up in Cardiff and Ann in Aberaeron and London.
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Richard was ordained in 1978 and was curate of Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire. He moved to Dudley as Educational Chaplain to the Group Ministry, then back to parish work as vicar of Wollescote (Stourbridge), Fareham, Hants and finally Luton, where he was Area Dean and Canon of St Albans Abbey. Richard retired from full time ministry in 2013 and is now Canon Emeritus of St. Albans, with Bishop's Permission to Officiate in Gloucester diocese, so he still helps in our Benefice.
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After a lifetime of town dwelling, he and Ann looked for retirement in a rural area and they are thoroughly enjoying it, despite the feeling that they have retired from one full time job to to another. (Return to top)

The Rev'd Canon Barbara Messham: A change of career from a secondary school teacher of mathematics saw Barbara ordained in 1999. A wife to Phil, mother of five, now grandmother of eleven with the twelfth due to arrive early in 2005 means that retirement is very busy, but she does manage to play tennis and table tennis and also sing regularly.
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Asked whether you stop believing in God when you retire, she replied, "Of course not!" Still with permission to officiate, Barbara is on our minister's rota and still feels it a great privilege to minister where and when she can. "We're loving the Gloucestershire countryside after the busyness of Surrey and we've met such lovely people here". (Return to top)

The Rev'd Canon David Bowers: retired in 2022 after 38 years of licensed ordained ministry, working for 14 years in the Manchester Diocese and then for 24 years in Gloucester. His last benefice was Sodbury Vale, a group of parishes including the market town of Chipping Sodbury. David's wife, Judith, retired the same year as him after 40 years as a nurse. They live in nearby Ledbury.
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Canon David had been helping to lead worship in our Benefice for the previous two years, so was appointed 'Interim Minister' to work for two days each week plus Sundays during the vacancy to oversee our continuing pattern of worship, pastoral care and the 'pastoral offices' (baptisms, weddings and funerals) as well as to act as the 'Training Incumbent' for Caroline Dunnett, one of our two curates.

As the vacancy had not been filled by January 2026, Canon David stepped back from Interim Minister, and after a short rest, will resume his association with our benefice as an 'Associated Priest', helping take Services etc on a less full-time basis.
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The Rev'd Caroline Dunnett: was ordained as a priest in June 2024, following 7 years as a Lay Reader and 1 year as an ordained Deacon in the Leadon Vale Benefice. She is nearing the end of her training period as an Assistant Curate and is a Self Supporting Minister (SSM), which means she doesn't receive an income from the church but works full time as a Religious Studies teacher in a girls State Grammar Secondary school in Gloucester.

Caroline is married to Richard and they have lived in Dymock for 17 years. They have 3 grown up children; the eldest is a statistician, the middle one is training to be a paramedic and the youngest is doing a gap year before going to university. Caroline enjoys singing, crochet and can be seen twice a week running around Dymock trying to keep fit! (Return to top)