Clergy

Ashill, Barrington, Broadway,Chillington, Cudworth, Curry Rivel, Donyatt, Dowlish Wake, Fivehead, Horton, Ilminster, Ilton, Isle Abbotts, Isle Brewers, Kingstone, Puckington, Shepton Beauchamp, Stocklinch, Swell, Whitelackington

Alastair Wallace was brought up near Birmingham, and trained for the ministry at Trinity College, Bristol. After ordination in 1975, he served his curacy at St Leonard's, Exeter, and then spent a time as Chaplain of a theologicalal college in Cambridge, before undertaking research into the history of the Diocese of Exeter in the late seventeenth century.

From 1983 to 1996 he was Rector of St Michael with St Paul, Bath, a city-centre church which is part of the Bath Abbey Group. During that time he was Rural Dean of Bath for six years, and taught Church History on a part-time basis at Trinity College, Bristol.

In 1996 he moved to Wells Cathedral as Sub-Dean and Assistant Diocesan Missioner, developing a program of day study courses on basic Christian themes under the heading 'Know Your Faith'.

He became Rector of the Minster in 1999.

Andrew Tatham, our Rural Dean, is married to Margaret, and they have two children, Hugh and Alice, both of whom are teachers. Margaret was a teacher of deaf children and latterly of children with a wider range of special needs.

Following a degree in Geography at the University of Durham, Andrew worked for two years as a cartographic editor with George Philip Ltd. moving to King’s College London, as Geography Librarian and Map Curator in 1973. While at King’s, he completed a Diploma in Archives Management and obtained his PhD, for a thesis on the cartography of the Kattegat in the Napoleonic period. Additionally, he taught cartography and history of cartography, both as Yr 1 compulsory courses and as Yr2/3 options, and also worked in the College Archives and co-ordinated and designed exhibitions of the College’s work for Industrial Leaders’ days, Graduation days, etc. In 1992, Andrew was appointed Keeper at the Royal Geographical Society, where he was responsible for the Information Resources Division, including the world famous Map Room, and its assets - c.2million items with unique and very rare published and unpublished works from c.1484 to the present. He played a major role in planning a £6.4m project to make this internationally important archive more widely accessible and socially inclusive through new-build and refurbished facilities, through Internet-accessible catalogues, and through educational products and programmes, which is now being implemented.

Having trained on the Southwark Ordination Course, Andrew was ordained in 1992. He became Assistant Curate (NSM), in the parish of Headley-with-Boxhill, in the Guildford Diocese. This is a small, semi-rural parish (Pop.2400; ER.c.100), with high proportion of retired people. There are two separate communities in the parish, plus the Joint Service Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court, with a church in each. In 1999, Andrew also became Rural Dean of the Chapter in the Diocese of Guildford for all in non-stipendiary ministries in 1999. By 2002, when Andrew was appointed to his present post as Team Vicar in the Ilminster & District Team, the number of NSMs in Guildford diocese had grown to one hundred, or one-third of all clergy in the diocese. The Chapter has an important focus on helping clergy support and value Christians at their workplaces and understand the pressures faced. It also tries to affirm people in their workplace and help the understanding of their part in God’s creative work as seven whole days, not one in seven.

Andrew has published in a number of areas including the following: Local History - Population change in Tandridge; Bishop Blomfield and King’s College London; History of Cartography - German Military Mapping in World War 2; Charting the Kattegat in the Napoleonic Era; Map Curatorship - Moving a map library; Unlocking the Archives; Tactile Mapping - Tactile map design; cataloguing tactile maps; appropriate technology in tactile map production; standardisation; Christians at Work - Resources for parishes. His interest in tactile mapping led to him being elected Chairman of the ICA Commission on Maps and Graphics for Blind and Visually Impaired People (1995-2003), while at national level he has served as President (1998-2000) of the British Cartographic Society. Before training for ordination, Andrew had been County Secretary of the Scout Association, and a leader in a local Scout Group.

Geoff Wade is the Team Vicar for the Eight Parishes of Barrington, Puckington, Stocklinch and Shepton Beauchamp (which lie north of the A303) and Dowlish Wake, Kingstone, Chillington and Cudworth (to the south); he has been in post since September 2004.

Geoff served twenty years in the Royal Navy before joining the Church; he started as a Writer Rating and was quickly promoted to Officer, spending much of his career at sea in a variety of theatres and ships.

He married to Alison in 1999 and they went to Theological College in Oxford (Ripon College, Cuddesdon) before joining Worcester Diocese where Geoff served as a Curate first in Worcester City Parish and then in Wordsley on the edge of the Black Country. Whilst with Worcester Diocese he spent two years as part-time Chaplain to St Richard's Hospice.

Originally a 'city boy' (born in the centre of Birmingham) Geoff enjoys rural village life and whilst many people might think eight parishes is a bit much, he finds it an exciting and dynamic challenge; many of his parishes are rapidly developing popular services for people of all ages who are not used to the normal, more formal, setting of Anglican worship and whilst there is also renewed interest in other traditional forms.

Jenny Langdon is the Rector of Curry Rivel.
We await her biography

Nigel Whinney was educated at Charterhouse and the Britannia Royal Naval College. He joined the Royal Navy straight from school in 1962. After four years training, his first job was in the last Destroyer Squadron based in the Mediterranean. He then became a helicopter pilot serving in HMS EAGLE and HMS GURKHA before spending two years in New Zealand as the Aviation Adviser.

After a job with the Royal Air Force, Nigel went to Staff College and then as Second in Command of a Sea King Squadron in HMS TIGER. Subsequently, he became the Commanding Officer of 829 Squadron at Portland. On promotion to Commander, he spent time in the Ministry of Defence, the Royal College of Defence Studies and in Northern Ireland. After six months in the Falklands, he commanded HMS Plover and the Hong Kong Squadron. He retired from the Royal Navy in 1995 and trained for the priesthood with the South West Ministry Training Course based at Exeter University. Nigel is a full time non-stipendiary priest in the Ilminster Team and has just retired as the Rural Dean of the Crewkerne and Ilminster Deanery. Nigel is married to Harriet and has two adult children.

Our Clergy