I was born in Oxford in 1971, the first of three boys. My parents were non church going Methodists but joined a free evangelical house church soon after I was born, so I was brought up to know God (or at least to know about him). My dad worked as a journalist and later in the hotel and leisure industry; my mum was a full-time mother and later a secretary and P.A. I had a happy childhood and wanted to be a priest when, at the age of about 7, the local vicar came into my Primary School for an assembly. I met and married Jessica while we were both at college and we have two daughters: Daisy (born in 1998) and Lucinda (born in 2002). My first job was as Assistant Chaplain to the Anglican Church in the Netherlands, at St. John & St. Philip in The Hague. From there I moved to Birmingham to become the Assistant Priest at St. John's, Walmley -- one of the largest churches in that Diocese. When the vicar retired I looked after the congregation and parish on my own for nearly a year.
From there I moved south to Kent to become Priest-in-Charge of St. John's, Grove Green: a Local Ecumenical Partnership made up of four different denominations (Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, and United Reformed Churches) all working and worshipping together. The church meets at 10.30 every Sunday morning at St. John's Church Of England Primary School on Provender Way in Maidstone. As a church we have a wonderfully wide range of people and especially of ages, with great children's and young people's work. In an age of declining church attendance the news from Grove Green is encouraging: St. John's is the largest church in the area and still growing. Do come and join us! Cheers, Ollie.