OUR LEADERSHIP

I live on the Somerset levels where I love to go out walking with the family dog Maya. My husband and I own and run a small business working with the NHS to manufacture Special Seating and wheelchairs for severely disabled people. I am an accredited lay preacher for the URC and support small rural congregations in Somerset. I first went to Iona aged 13, since then the Iona Community has fed my faith with liturgy and song; challenged my living with campaigns of peace and justice and warmed my soul with stories and reflection.

What makes me laugh out loud is live stand up comedy. We try to get to a few comedy gigs every year. A recent highlight was Tim Minchin whose ability to tell a story with music is exceptional.

Committed to public service & widening access Grant continues to serve communities. Iona, it’s people & the Iona Community (my father was a member) have given me a lot. If I can repay any of that, I would love to do so. George Macleod wrote my first reference. Angie Mackay taught me about the sea.

Whether it has been as Acting University Principal/President, holding established University Chairs (currently with Edinburgh & Toronto), Director and Chair with a National Sports Council Board, or being an advisor to Governments and Football Clubs, the goal has always included trying to enable opportunity for others.

What moves me at my deepest level is family, public service and another great Motherwell goal.

I am person of energy, creativity, and enthusiasm. Married to Lin, we live in Stockton-on- Tees with our German Shepherd Dog Fred. I work for the Methodist Church as a Digital Trainer and volunteer with Women’s Street Watch in Middlesbrough. I am passionate about education, digital and technology, young people, spirituality, labyrinths, the arts, music, animals, pilgrimage and walking. I have a loud laugh and a big smile:-)

What makes me laugh out loud is the playfulness of our dog Fred and my wife Lin's humour.

Experience in my civil service career and working for the Methodist Church, opened my eyes to the poverty that exists in our rich country and gave me a passion to try to do something about it. After retirement I became a trustee and then chair of Church Action on Poverty and this led me to the Iona Community. A Methodist Local Preacher, I was inspired by the worship in the Abbey and often use the published resources. I live with my husband of 51 years in a small Gloucestershire town and love walking in the countryside around us.

What makes me laugh out loud are jokes and odd things that happen when my husband, son and I are together. What moves me at my deepest level is the beauty of the west coast of Scotland - Iona, of course, but particularly Knoydart.

I am a retired Canadian perinatal nurse educator/consultant, trained in Aberdeen (Scotland) and London (UK). Our eldest daughter, Elsbeth, lives with us and is a woman on the Autism Spectrum. She has taught me so much about the joys and sorrows of living with disability. Currently Garry and I attend an ‘open table’, ‘socially outward focused and active’ Anglican Church in London, Ontario. My hobbies include gardening, cooking, canoeing and always there is a book on the go – or several.

What causes me to wonder is nature. I see God in the beauty of the tiniest flower, the expanse of the night sky and the universe in the atom. What attracted me most to Iona when we first visited in 2003, was the freshness of the worship, the world church music and the symbolic action in the services as well as the open radical hospitality. I pray I might bring a Canadian perspective to the team.

What moves me at my deepest level is music which brings me peace. But I am also moved by the homelessness, poverty, addiction and mental health issues which I see in our city core in increasing numbers.

My first contact with the Iona Community was 25 years ago as a guest in the Abbey.  At the time my husband Jan and I were looking for a Community that combined Faith and Action.

Ever since, the ethos of the Community has been part of my life. It has helped me in my work as a chaplain in hospital to look for health in mind and spirit, not just physical welfare, and to become active as a representative of workers’ rights. It made me see the poverty of the patients, leading to the starting of a small charity for their immediate needs.

The growing Iona movement in the Netherlands has been a great joy and support. It made membership a possibility, so I joined the Iona Community in 2008.

I took early retirement in 2022, together with Jan. We live south of Rotterdam. We’re in the process of finding a new balance between doing voluntary work and just “being” and enjoying life.

What gets my heart beating faster is Wholeness: for each of us as a person and for the world as a whole. My body, mind and spirit cannot be whole as long as others are suffering from injustice.

I am studying for my PhD in Mathematics where I am modelling the spread of disease within forests. Before my PhD, I spent two seasons living and working on Iona at the Abbey, mainly in Housekeeping.

Volunteering at the Abbey was my first encounter with the Iona Community, and through this it has become a very important part of my life. I am a member of the Young Adults Group, and by being on council I hope to bring the voice of young adults in the community, as well as the insights I gained through working on Iona, as both a volunteer and as staff.

I live in Sheffield, and in my spare time I am involved with Inclusive Church, as well as Northern Leg of Pilgrim Cross, a community that walks from Nottingham to Walsingham each Holy Week.

I grew up in Glasgow and trained in hotel management.  After years working in hotels and contract industrial catering, I then worked in the energy industry as a sales and marketing manager selling gas and electricity to businesses across the UK. 

In my working life and in volunteer capacities I’ve always wanted to fight injustice and as a volunteer with a Low pay unit saw many cases of poverty caused by injustice.  I now volunteer with a Carers centre supporting unpaid Carers, a group that gets a very poor deal from society. 

When my post was made redundant I moved to France for 7 years and carried on working in the energy industry in the UK.  On retirement I moved back to the UK and to the West of Scotland settling in Argyll, a very beautiful but very wet part of the country. 

What moves me is, I think, connection: sharing a smile with a stranger, seeing a drop of water on a leaf, listening to my local robin, the joy of being with people I love. 

I was born and brought up in Liverpool and I first visited Iona in 2017. I have been aware of the Iona Community all my life, particularly through the music of the Wild Goose Worship Group and attending Big Sings at Greenbelt. After I graduated university with a degree in Geography, I volunteered on Iona working in the kitchen (see vegetarian section of the Iona Abbey Cookbook for proof!). I find the liturgy and ethos of the Iona Community very meaningful and I love the emphasis placed on action to bring about change. After I left the island I joined a family group and I have continued to be a member of the Young Adults Group.

I have previously been a member of two other Christian communities: Scargill Movement and Hilfield Friary. I love being part of community and making connections with other people.

I am very passionate about nature and protecting the environment. I have spent time volunteering for the RSPB and I am at the beginning of a career in Wildlife Conservation based in North East Scotland. 

I am from Germany and a full member of the Community since 2020. My employed is as a pastor in part time in the German Protestant Church with a special commission to organize and perform program like religious education, instructions for volunteers in parishes, spiritual and creative evenings and weekends and cultural events for mostly adults in a church district with 26 parishes. At home I have a husband, three kids and two cats. To help to develop our Community as an worldwide Community is very important for me.

what makes me laugh out loud is.... watching my cats playing

I am person of energy, creativity, and enthusiasm. Married to Lin, we live in Stockton-on- Tees with our German Shepherd Dog Fred. I work for the Methodist Church as a Digital Trainer and volunteer with Women’s Street Watch in Middlesbrough. I am passionate about education, digital and technology, young people, spirituality, labyrinths, the arts, music, animals, pilgrimage and walking. I have a loud laugh and a big smile:-)

What makes me laugh out loud is the playfulness of our dog Fred and my wife Lin's humour.

I am an Associate Member with many years connection with Iona including running a number of environmental weeks. My varied career has included stand-up comedian, community worker, head of a Field Studies Centre and Director of Sustainability at a London local authority. I have been a long- standing campaigner for inner city conservation, the protection of urban open spaces and for environmental education. Married to an Anglican priest, I am a Quaker living in the East End of London, where the youngest of my three sons has just left home. I now work as a writer, and occasional broadcaster, on environmental subjects, my books including ‘The Green London Way’ and ‘Ghost Trees’.

What moves me at my deepest level is... the sound of rain and the sight of falling leaves.

Nancy is a retired nurse educator/consultant. She lives in London, Ontario, Canada with her husband Garry, daughter Elsbeth, who is an adult on the Autism Spectrum, and two cats. Nancy is an avid reader, gardener and a cook. Since 2013, Nancy has been sending out daily prayers to Iona Community Members and Associates as a way of sending light into the world.

I grew up in Glasgow and trained in hotel management.  After years working in hotels and contract industrial catering, I then worked in the energy industry as a sales and marketing manager selling gas and electricity to businesses across the UK. 

In my working life and in volunteer capacities I’ve always wanted to fight injustice and as a volunteer with a Low pay unit saw many cases of poverty caused by injustice.  I now volunteer with a Carers centre supporting unpaid Carers, a group that gets a very poor deal from society. 

When my post was made redundant I moved to France for 7 years and carried on working in the energy industry in the UK.  On retirement I moved back to the UK and to the West of Scotland settling in Argyll, a very beautiful but very wet part of the country. 

What moves me is, I think, connection: sharing a smile with a stranger, seeing a drop of water on a leaf, listening to my local robin, the joy of being with people I love. 

I was born and brought up in Liverpool and I first visited Iona in 2017. I have been aware of the Iona Community all my life, particularly through the music of the Wild Goose Worship Group and attending Big Sings at Greenbelt. After I graduated university with a degree in Geography, I volunteered on Iona working in the kitchen (see vegetarian section of the Iona Abbey Cookbook for proof!). I find the liturgy and ethos of the Iona Community very meaningful and I love the emphasis placed on action to bring about change. After I left the island I joined a family group and I have continued to be a member of the Young Adults Group.

I have previously been a member of two other Christian communities: Scargill Movement and Hilfield Friary. I love being part of community and making connections with other people.

I am very passionate about nature and protecting the environment. I have spent time volunteering for the RSPB and I am at the beginning of a career in Wildlife Conservation based in North East Scotland. 

Annie lives in Sheffield and enjoys spending time outside or reading with a big mug of tea. She is a Methodist, and is passionate about quiet activism. Annie has recently started working for Church Army as a Stories Producer, and has previously worked with JPIT and in the Abbey Kitchen on Iona. 

I am a member of the IC for a lomg time, a trained economist and theologian running a consulting company in Berlin/Germany; plus, on a voluntary capacity a part-time minister in one of our city parishes. I have argued and worked for a number of years to change our approach to our own businesses and become much more professional and more transperrent. Now we are working on the fulfilment of our own standards.

What makes me laugh: Anouncements of our city goverment concerning progress in standard of school buildings

What moves me: Love of my wider family

I live on the Somerset levels where I love to go out walking with the family dog Maya. My husband and I own and run a small business working with the NHS to manufacture Special Seating and wheelchairs for severely disabled people. I am an accredited lay preacher for the URC and support small rural congregations in Somerset. I first went to Iona aged 13, since then the Iona Community has fed my faith with liturgy and song; challenged my living with campaigns of peace and justice and warmed my soul with stories and reflection.

What makes me laugh out loud is live stand up comedy. We try to get to a few comedy gigs every year. A recent highlight was Tim Minchin whose ability to tell a story with music is exceptional.

Experience in my civil service career and working for the Methodist Church, opened my eyes to the poverty that exists in our rich country and gave me a passion to try to do something about it. After retirement I became a trustee and then chair of Church Action on Poverty and this led me to the Iona Community. A Methodist Local Preacher, I was inspired by the worship in the Abbey and often use the published resources. I live with my husband of 51 years in a small Gloucestershire town and love walking in the countryside around us.

What makes me laugh out loud are jokes and odd things that happen when my husband, son and I are together. What moves me at my deepest level is the beauty of the west coast of Scotland - Iona, of course, but particularly Knoydart.

My first contact with the Iona Community was 25 years ago as a guest in the Abbey.  At the time my husband Jan and I were looking for a Community that combined Faith and Action.

Ever since, the ethos of the Community has been part of my life. It has helped me in my work as a chaplain in hospital to look for health in mind and spirit, not just physical welfare, and to become active as a representative of workers’ rights. It made me see the poverty of the patients, leading to the starting of a small charity for their immediate needs.

The growing Iona movement in the Netherlands has been a great joy and support. It made membership a possibility, so I joined the Iona Community in 2008.

I took early retirement in 2022, together with Jan. We live south of Rotterdam. We’re in the process of finding a new balance between doing voluntary work and just “being” and enjoying life.

What gets my heart beating faster is Wholeness: for each of us as a person and for the world as a whole. My body, mind and spirit cannot be whole as long as others are suffering from injustice.

I am studying for my PhD in Mathematics where I am modelling the spread of disease within forests. Before my PhD, I spent two seasons living and working on Iona at the Abbey, mainly in Housekeeping.

Volunteering at the Abbey was my first encounter with the Iona Community, and through this it has become a very important part of my life. I am a member of the Young Adults Group, and by being on council I hope to bring the voice of young adults in the community, as well as the insights I gained through working on Iona, as both a volunteer and as staff.

I live in Sheffield, and in my spare time I am involved with Inclusive Church, as well as Northern Leg of Pilgrim Cross, a community that walks from Nottingham to Walsingham each Holy Week.

Bertrand is currently living and working in Montréal, Québec, where he has been leading the Anglican Cathedral since 2018.  Prior to that, he was a parish priest in London for 22 years, after a ten year career in Communications and business.   In the course of his ministry, he has been involved on a number of charitable and educational boards.  Bertrand is a musician and has a special interest in liturgy.  He has been a member of the Iona Community for 20 years.

I am ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and am in the second year of the IC New Members programme. I am currently the pastor at First Presbyterian Church in New Haven, Connecticut, after serving for 15 years in healthcare advocacy and pastoral ministry in Memphis, Tennessee.

I arrived in Scotland for the first time on September 11, 2001, a very formative time to be living outside of the USA. I was introduced to the Iona Community while studying with Dr. Ian Bradley at the University of St. Andrews, and was a volunteer in 2005, 2009 and 2022. I love the music and liturgy of the IC and the WGRG and am always too eager to jump in and create worship experiences inspired by our practices of prayer.

I hold degrees from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN; Union Theological Seminary in New York, NY; and Austin College in north-central Texas, which is where I am originally from. I have professional experience in innovation, program development, communications, administration, and advocacy, and have worked at organizations from a healthcare system with 13,000 staff members to an interreligious advocacy center working out of a closet at the U.N. I am excited to bring my love for Iona and my professional experience to the work of the CRC.