One church with two congregations

Bev Smith - Church Secretary

I’m Bev and I have been a member of Tamworth Baptist Church for over 30 years.  I also have the joy of serving the church as both a Deacon and the Church Secretary. I am married to Bill, who is renowned for his sense of humour and always having a joke suitable for any situation!  We have two golden retrievers, Haggis and Bridie (a Bridie is a sort of Scottish pastie… part of my Scottish husband’s sense of humour), who are brother and sister from the same litter, are extremely cute and very well behaved… well most of the time anyway.

I first became a Christian in my teens at a Girls’ Brigade camp, when for the first time I understood how much God loves me and that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins, and that because of this we can all be forgiven and accepted.  The Bible tells us that Jesus came so that we could have life, life in all its fullness, and I believe that this is what I received when I became a Christian.  I served for many years as an Officer in the Girls’ Brigade taking on a number of different roles, and only recently standing down as District Chaplain.  Girls’ Brigade has always been important to me and will always have a special place in my heart.

As well as the duties I undertake as a Deacon and Church Secretary – I also do some preaching and occasionally lead Bible study and Alpha groups in the church.  I love learning more about God and sharing what I have learnt with others… because talking about the God who brings us life is always a joy and refreshes my life.

David Thompson - Church Treasurer

David is married to Irene and they have three children Ruth, Paul and Emma who were born between 1985 and 1992.  One of David’s claims to fame is that he was born in the same hospital as Benjamin Zephaniah, although David admits to being a year or two older. 

David worked for Lloyds TSB for 38 years before taking early retirement and he has moved around a little with work, however Irene and David have been in Tamworth since 1988.

David became a Christian whilst in The Boys’ Brigade when he was seventeen.  He believes God has given him the ability to work with finance and in addition to being the church treasurer he works three days a week for the Heart of England Baptist Association, the association of almost 200 Baptist churches covering the centre of the country.

David enjoys walking – he and Irene once walked right across England (190 miles) and he also looks into his family history.  He is surprised what an ecumenical background he has with members of his family being Anglican, Catholic and Primitive Methodist. 

Anne Clark - Dosthill Congregation Leader

Anne has been a Christian and in membership with Tamworth Baptist Church since 1974.  She is congregational leader for the fellowship at Dosthill, worshipping with them on Sunday mornings, and is also a housegroup leader at the Tolson housegroup. 

She retired from Staffordshire Mobile Library Service in 2008, having worked for Staffordshire County Library Service since 1979 (including a 10 year break to bring up children).  Previously she was a librarian with Birmingham Libraries.  She is a professional counsellor, and besides having a private practice, does voluntary counselling for Manna House, a Christian counselling agency.

She is married to Charles, and they share a passion for murder mystery plays and Shakespeare at Tamworth Castle.  They enjoy walking with friends (they have a few!) reading, and writing (Anne scribbles in journals and Charles is a published poet and short story writer.)  They have 2 grown up children, Chris and Bryony.  Chris works in the town library and lives in Tamworth, with Emma ,and Theo, our grandson.  Bryony is a nurse and lives and works in Salisbury. 

Anne has a keen interest in gardening, and enjoys doing family history (and will bore anyone who wants to talk about it), knitting, embroidery, tapestry and patchwork.  Currently, Anne and Charles share a house with three cats, Penny, Fudge and Sandy. 

Sue Bilson

Sue is married to Leigh and they have two daughters (both flown the nest) and three grandchildren. They have lived in Warton for 37 years, and worshipped at the village church for several years after becoming Christians in 1985. They have been members of Tamworth Baptist Church for the past 8 years, and Leigh serves on the preaching team.

Sue is a retired teacher and spent most of her teaching career in Primary schools in Polesworth. Sue also spent 4 years teaching part-time at Hanbury's Farm Primary right next door to Tamworth Baptist Church. Sue keeps up contact with the staff and children in the school by taking fortnightly assemblies and helping to run the monthly Praise Parties at church which attract a lot of children from the area immediately around the school. She would love to see relationships develop between the church and whole families on the surrounding estate.  

Sue is a support worker for the Christians Against Poverty centre, attends a housegroup, and attends the monthly prayer breakfast (when not escaping to her caravan in Wales!)

Sue and Leigh are the co-ordinators for the church link with Talne Baptist Church and Korsunka village church plant in Ukraine, and have visited Pastor Valeriy on several occasions and have come back inspired by the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ in that beautiful country. 

Heather Brookes

Heather is married to Dorien and they have 2 children, Adam & Sophie, both currently studying at University in Huddersfield and Sheffield.  She is originally from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, she became a Christian in her teens and was baptised in 1977, and she and Dorien moved to Tamworth in 1983 and have lived in Dosthill since then. 

As well as serving the church as a deacon, Heather is involved in the church music group, Kerygma, and the church puppet group, and has recently taken over as the webmaster of this website (with lots of help from Trevor Glover … thanks Trev!).

Heather works full-time as the administrator for Tamworth Council for Voluntary Service.  She enjoys reading, music, caravanning, and researching her family history, and dislikes cleaning the oven and ironing! 

Martin Horner

Martin is married to Alison and moved to Tamworth 30 years ago when they married, they have two girls Rebecca 24 and Naomi 19.  Martin worked for British Telecom for 35 years, and left two years ago to start a handyman business which is now part time, together with being a part time Project Manager at North Warwickshire Volunteer Centre.

Martin became a Christian through a partnership mission in August 1983 when a group of American Baptists came to Tamworth Baptist Church to help with a mission.  Martin was challenged by this mission and committed his life to Christ, being baptised in December 1983. 

Martin has had various roles in the Church in the last 25 years, being a Deacon for 21 years and is passionate about God’s calling for all believers to make disciples of all men (and women). [Matthew 28 v18-20].  Hence Martin is the Deacon responsible for evangelism.

Martin enjoys playing golf and badminton.  Alison and Martin enjoy going away in their touring caravan as often as possible, church commitments allowing. 

Ray Rastall

Ray is a retired college lecturer, he is married to Pam, and they have 2 grown up daughters, Sarah and Clare.  Ray has served as a deacon for many years, he is a member of the church preaching team and is involved in pastoral work.  In his spare time he enjoys caravanning and playing badminton. 

Brenda Ridpath

Brenda has served on the diaconate for a number of years.  She originates from a background of charismatic Church of England, she has twice been married and twice widowed and has a number of step-children, two of whom sadly recently died, one from cancer and the other from MS.

Brenda is Secretary of Thursday Fellowship and has a wide prayer ministry, especially regarding Israel and Birmingham City Mission.  She has a pastoral ministry and distributes the church flowers to members as and when available, and belongs to the Monday House Group. 

Sue Silcock

Sue is married to Colin and they have three sons and three grandchildren. They moved to Tamworth nearly 30 years ago from Hartlepool and still speak with a slightly strange accent! Sue has been an active member of Tamworth Baptist Church ever since and has undertaken lots of different roles within the fellowship.

She has been a deacon for many years and is currently Centre Manager of our Christians Against Poverty Centre, which she helped to set up nine years ago. She has seen many clients become debt free. She rejoices with those who have found Jesus as their Saviour. She worships at Dosthill Congregation where she teaches in the Sunday school. She is our Playcentre leader and leads a mid week housegroup. She is also a Girls Brigade Officer, so is a very busy person and often found in or around our Church buildings. 

Esme Tickle

Esme is married to Dave and they have two children Rachel and James who are in their early 20s.  They moved to Tamworth 28 years ago where they have been members of Tamworth Baptist Church ever since. 

Esme teaches Maths at Polesworth High school.  She has served as a deacon for many years. She has been the Sunday School coordinator for over 20 years.  She was deacon responsible for fabric issues (maintenance of the buildings) for a while …. she didn't do much work herself but made sure that all jobs got done!!

She helps at various activities such as: Boys’ Brigade, Praise Parties and Playcentre. She attends a housegroup and prayer meeting every week.  Esme says it has been good to see children come through our church activities and commit their lives to Christ and she prays that God will continue to use her in that way to reach more young people for Him.