Our Team

Originally from Manchester, I married a Scot – my husband Mike – after meeting as trainee accountants in Sheffield. Since then, we have been moving further and further north leaving Sheffield with a young family in 1995 for Glenrothes and in between the lockdowns on to Arbroath. ..

Having spent over 15 years as a bookkeeper in a garage in Kirkcaldy the time seemed right to answer God’s call and with the support of family and many of the local Fife churches where I learned through placements, I embarked on the training for ministry.

Ordained and inducted to the former Arbroath West Kirk, now one of our worshipping centres, at the end of 2020, it’s a joy to be working with Peter, Carla and Keith in our united congregation in the varied life of our centres, in local schools and residential homes, sharing God’s word and love in the community.

Mike and I also enjoy time with the family – which now includes grandchildren and a spot of ballroom dancing.

I grew up in Arbroath and was baptised and attended the former Arbroath St Andrew’s church.

I attended Colliston Primary School and Arbroath High School. I completed an undergraduate degree in Social Science at Edinburgh Napier University in 2017 and went on to graduate with a Master of Letters degree in English Language Teaching from the University of St Andrews in 2018. ..

After the completion of my studies, I became Youth Work Coordinator with the former Arbroath St Andrew’s congregation. In February 2023, I became a Ministries Development Staff member as Children & Family Worker in the Arbroath & District Church. My favourite time of the work year is our Holiday Club weeks, and I am also particularly passionate about our work in our local primary schools.

When not working, I love baking, eating cake, Girlguiding, going to the gym and crafting.

I was born in North Wales, but was raised from the age of three on the edge of Tiverton in Devon, a town similar in size to Arbroath.

During school years I had in mind to work in meteorology. ..I already had a place at university for that purpose when I first heard the insistent voice of God’s call. After working for a short time in an ironmonger and in a textile factory, I spent twelve months volunteering in the church before embarking on my ministerial training in Manchester. After a further twelve months in Aberdeen, where I met my wife, Rona, I was ordained in 1995 into United Reformed Church ministry in Bishop Auckland in County Durham.

After Rona and I married in 1996 I was inducted to a charge in Edinburgh before coming to the Church of Scotland and to Colliston, Friockheim and Inverkeilor in 2004.

Rona works as a healthcare chaplain with NHS Tayside and together we have two sons, Jonathan and Joshua, who are both now young adults.

I am delighted to be part of the Ministry Team for Arbroath and District Church of Scotland, and I am excited to embrace the possibilities that this new pattern of church life will mean.

When I finished in Manchester, my cohort were each asked for a favourite Scripture verse. I chose John 3: 30 where John the Baptist says of Jesus, “He must increase, I must decrease”. In the end, it is the life and the light that we find in the Lord that must sustain us, and I pray that together we can increase his light to the people of Arbroath, its rural hinterland, and beyond.

I count it a privilege to have been Locum at St Vigean’s church these last six years and am presently part of the new Ministry team for Arbroath and District Churches of Scotland. ..

Born and brought up in Arbroath, most folk remember me from working in the family business of Alan Irons and Son, before going to Dundee Uni and leaving with a BA in Community Education and working for the main part in Perth. I have done many ‘pulpit supplies’ over the years as lay preacher and look forward to hopefully many more years of service in the Lord’s work.