‘Welcome’ to Holy Trinity, Idle from our Vicar
Bradford is a fantastic place to live and work, rich in history, culture and beautiful countryside. Plus, you’re only ever a few minutes away from an amazing curry! And, Holy Trinity is a great church to visit, get to know us and become part of the family. We’re friendly and welcoming, accessible but deep. We love to dig into the Bible, to worship our amazing God, to love and serve our community and to work out what it means to ‘follow Jesus, together’.
And so, ‘welcome’ to you and to our website. We hope you’ll find all the information you need, but if not, just email or call us. When exploring a church, it’s natural to want to find out a little bit about ‘the vicar’, and some of the other members of our team here, so…meet the team.
Vicar – The Reverend, Jim Taylor
Curate – The Reverend, Leah Thompson
Leah Thompson is our new Curate serving the parish of Idle, after training for ordination at Trinity College in Bristol where she read for a MA. Prior to ordination she was a pioneer pastor at Lighthouse in Leeds, a Church that gathers at St. George’s Crypt in the city centre. Her hobbies include woodwork and anything outdoors.
Licensed Lay Ministers/Readers
Following a recent Review of Reader Ministry a report has been produced (6th March 2020) that outlines the future of this valuable ministry. The report on this review was due to be presented to the Diocesan Synod but this has been delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. One of the strongest recommendations being made is that the title of ‘Reader’ be replaced by that of ‘Licensed Lay Minister’ to avoid preconceived ideas and confusion among lay people as to who a ‘Reader’ is and what they do. The new title of ‘Licensed Lay Minister’ more accurately describes the ministry being undertaken and is a title that reflects the position within the hierarchical structure of the modern church.
Angie has been a member of Holy Trinity’s church family since November 1983 and became a Licensed Lay Minister at Holy Trinity in September 2013. She began her working life as a Primary School teacher but moved into industry where she worked in a Purchasing Department before becoming the PA to the company’s Financial Director. In 1982 Angie moved to Bradford to take up a Lecturing post in Further Education and completed her career teaching Business Studies and Accounting at Thornton Grammar School. Angie currently leads the pastoral team at Holy Trinity. She loves Georgie Fame, the theatre, ballet, crime novels, TV detective programmes, chocolate, chips and curry – in any order! She is married to Robin who she met at Holy Trinity.
Gill Taylor
Pending.
John, and his wife Janet, are both natives of the Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire where they both lived until moving to Bingley in West Yorkshire in December 2012 following retirement. Prior to moving to this area John has been a life-long member of his local church where he was licensed in June 1981 as ‘Reader’. John and Janet have three sons who each have a daughter and son. Their two elder sons with their respective families live back in Staffordshire whereas their youngest son and his family live in Thackley, hence the reason why Janet and John both came to join the church at Holy Trinity, Idle. Although John does have health issues he continues to be active in Local Ministry and enjoys working alongside the rest of the team in these exciting times.
It’s a real privilege to be part of the Team at Holy Trinity!
Prior to ‘retirement’, I served for eight years as Bishop of Bolton in the Diocese of Manchester, where my wife Susan worked as a Geography teacher in a City Centre College. In 2016 we moved to Apperley Bridge, and since 2017 I’ve been an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Leeds.
We’re no strangers to Yorkshire- in fact I’m the only one in our family that’s not Yorkshire born! – as over the years since my ordination in 1973, I’ve served in Huddersfield, Halifax and Bradford-I was Vicar of St.Peter’s Shipley for ten years. Life under the guidance of God has also taken us to Cumbria- where I was born-and North Devon, where I served as Warden of the Lee Abbey Community and Conference Centre.
I’ve written and contributed to a number of books on leadership, community and mission, and one of the reasons we love being a part of Holy Trinity, is because of its priority of ‘Following Jesus together’, expressed in worship that is engaging and relevant, along with a commitment to reach and serve others in the wider community with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Susan and I are also part of the team at St John’s Community Church in Greengates, (with whom Holy Trinity partners), as we seek to see church re-imagined in fresh ways in an area with a lot of new housing.
For the last 11 years I’ve chaired the Trustees of Scargill House, a Christian Community, Retreat and Conference Centre just outside Kettlewell in the Yorkshire Dales. In 2019, I became Chaplain to Yorkshire County Cricket Club, giving me every reason to find myself at Headingley as often as possible!
My other interests are music, real ale (even once had a beer on tap at the Idle Draper, ‘the Idle Bishop’!), walking – especially pub walks- and being a long term – and long suffering!- Season ticket holder at Bradford City.
Susan and I have two married sons, one of whom lives in Idle, and a lovely eight year old – going on eighteen! – granddaughter.
Chaplain to Immanuel College
Stuart is the Chaplain to Immanuel College. He has been in this position for twenty years since the school’s opening. He has been in the ordained ministry of the Church of England for thirty-five years and has ministered in Bradford and Barnsley in that time. Holy Trinity is now his home church and he enjoys being part of the fellowship as well as sometimes helping out with the ministry.
Churchwarden
Philip Cavalier-Lumley is our Churchwarden. He first became a Churchwarden in September 2015 and has been re-elected every year since. A Churchwarden is a Bishop’s officer, a senior layperson of the parish and with the parish priest, is generally responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the parish. In addition to his responsibilities as Churchwarden Phil organises our very successful annual bonfire event. He works locally for a family business and runs a Public Speaking membership group called Bradford Speaks.
Assistant Wardens
I have been worshipping at Holy Trinity since 2008, having first come with my friend Kate. I immediately felt at home and part of the church family. After he meet the leadership team and other members of the congregation, I managed to persuade my then fiancé, Matt, to come along too. We were married at Holy Trinity in 2010 and are usually found at the 9:30am service.
I am also part of the leadership team at the church plant which meets at St John’s, Greengates each Sunday at 4pm. I love to chat about this with anyone who will listen, so seek me out if you’re interested. I am passionate about church growth and building God’s Kingdom in our parishes.
Away from church I am Head of Accounting for a multinational manufacturing company and find this takes up an increasing amount of my time, but when I do have spare time I enjoy crafting (I also run the HTI Craft Group), walking and running but I’m not sure I enjoy this latter activity quite so much!
Hi, my name is Kate. I’ve been worshipping at Holy Trinity for more than 10 years. Over the years my faith has grown in strength and depth thanks to the leaders and worship teams over the years. As well as volunteering at church, heading up the welcome teams and coordinating weddings I work full time as a Community Nurse based in Leeds for the specialist service of bowels and bladders. I’ve been married to Gavin since 2006. We live with our very pampered pooches, retired racing greyhounds Jack and Betsy.
Simon has been a member of Holy Trinity Church since he was baptised as a child. He chose to stay at Holy Trinity when he got married and now attends with his wife and daughter. He has been actively involved with Children’s and Youth Church for many years in a leadership role before the church employed a youth worker to nurture and help the young people in their faith.
He works as a contract’s manager for a national mechanical and electrical company. Simon continues his service now as communion steward and assistant warden. He prefers to stay in the background helping make sure things run smoothly. He enjoys the annual challenge of building the church bonfire and meticulous planning of the spectacular firework display that he then delivers and shares with the church family and Idle community.
In his free time, he will always manage to take part in sporting activities especially cycling, walking and climbing to maintain his fitness.
Steve Trudgill
Paul Collins
Paul Meer
Linda Addinall
Vergers
Verger Team
The term Verger probably means very little in society today but is a very important position and role within any church. The following will give you some idea of what a Verger is responsible for and what they do.
The Verger is:
- an official in a church who acts as a caretaker & attendant;
- an official who carries a rod/cross before a bishop, dean or vicar as a symbol of office; and
- an individual, usually a layperson, who assists the clergy in the conduct of worship, particularly in Anglican churches.
Here at Holy Trinity we have a team of Vergers. They are Sue, Denise, Eileen, Michael, Kevin and Paul. As a team they tend to look after & support the ministry team wherever possible with day-to-day duties, especially on Sundays. The team will be doing anything from opening the church building, making sure other people are aware that they are contributing in the church service, through to setting up the Lord’s Table (Altar) in preparation for the service of Holy Communion.
In general terms the members of the team are helping everything to run smoothly while at the same time saying a friendly “hello” to all who come to worship and assisting the Churchwarden, the Assistant Churchwardens and Clergy Team in their roles.
Throughout the week the Verger Team are on hand to assist at Funeral Services & at weekends there are also Weddings & Baptisms Services too.
And if you’re ever wondering who puts up the Flag at the top of the church tower… …Yes that’s the verger too.
Kevin WatsonNyreen Johnson
Pending Photograph.
Mission Apprentice
Bethany Clifford
Church Administrator
Nyreen is the Church Administrator at HTI (Holy Trinity, Idle). She helps run the church office, which is open from 9am to 1pm Monday-Friday to assist with your enquiries. Nyreen has been a member of HTI for five years and volunteers with various activities from the Friday Night Boys group to the Breathe Team. Nyreen is married to Matthew and has two daughters. In her spare time she can be found crocheting for craft stalls and drinking Earl Grey tea.