Your Church Team

Churchwarden's Welcome

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Welcome to St John's Sharow!  My name is Rosemary, and I am in my second period as Church Warden, the first having been twenty years ago!  I feel very much at home in St John's and while personnel have come and gone, to me the ethos has always remained one of warm friendly welcome and acceptance.  St John's lies in the Cathedral Benefice, being built only two hundred years ago and there are no families with a history of St John's attendance here.  Everyone in the congregation is an incomer, we all have different backgrounds and so we come together as a diverse and accepting community.  We enjoy a great variety of worship, so there is something for everyone, from formal Eucharistic Services with healing to Celtic Worship and Café Church where we are really made to think!  My husband Peter oversees the management of our large and open church yard with its wonderful and well-known wildflower meadows of which we are very proud.  Please come in and meet us - and oh - we are very good at cake!  I look forward to greeting you."
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Hello! My name is Tony and I am a Church Warden responsible for looking after the church buildings; maintenance and building alterations.
I am "Mr Fix-It" and enjoy spending my retirement keeping our beautiful church looking good and working smoothly.
My career was spent in South Africa working on the gold mines as a Consulting Engineer and more importantly, became a Born Again Christian when I was 45.
In my spare time I plant trees with Rotary, watch rugby, enjoy wine and am part of a group re-opening our local pub.
I also function as the Health and Safety and Fire Officer.

St John's
​Safeguarding Officer

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Hi, I'm your Parsh Safeguarding Officer. Please contact me with any concerns at all. My career in nursing, and as a school nurse of twenty primary schools and two secondary schools means my career has always been on the precipice of taking care of people and I have encountered many situations demanding professional attention. Since March 2018 I have been serving on St John's Parocial Church Council and as the lead of our parish safeguarding. 
I make sure that all adults who interact with children have enhanced DBS checks, (all PCC members too) and I complete regular training to ensure current national standards and targets are adhered to and exceeded.  I report to the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisors. 
​I'm passionate about promoting inclusivity in places of worship and with church activities and in my spare time, love spending time with my children and grandchildren. 

St John's Floral Principal 

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Hello, my name is Denise and I am responsible for the floral displays in our beautiful church. This not only includes the arrangements next to the altar for our weekly services, but also the displays for festivals and celebrations throughout the year.
I find the arranging of flowers in the quietness and stillness of the church very therapeutic; and take pleasure in carrying on the age-old tradition of placing flowers and foliage by the altar, to bring beauty and nature into the services to remind us of God’s wonderful world. 
If anyone would like to help, or ‘do’ an arrangement in church themselves for a particular Sunday (maybe to mark the passing of a loved one, or celebrate a special date), you only have to ask. 
Outside of church I am heavily involved with Sharow Village Hall; Sharow and District W.I.; and enjoy baking (especially cakes and puddings!).

St John's Church Organist

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Hello .  My  name  is  Christopher  Tunnard . I  am  a  retired  Solicitor  and  have  been  playing  the  Organ
for  Services  at  St. John's  since  July  2022 . As  a  keen  amateur  musician,  I  enjoy  singing  and  playing
the  Piano  as  well  as  the  Organ  and  have  been  involved  in  much  Church  Music   throughout  my  life. .
In  my  youth  I  was  a  Chorister  at  Birmingham  Cathedral  and , since  the  1980s , I  have  been
a  Deputy  Lay  Clerk  at  Ripon  Cathedral .​

Warden Honoris Causa

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Ruth and I joined the worshipping community at St John’s when we moved into the former vicarage in 1983.  We have remained committed to the Parish ever since.

​My career was in the law:  first as a barrister then as a Circuit Judge also based in Leeds; from 1992 to 2014 I was Chancellor of the Diocese, Ripon / Ripon and Leeds.  In 2011 I trained as a commercial mediator, practising until this year.  I work occasionally as a community mediator and facilitator of difficult conversations.  In 2013 I worked for the Slynn Foundation advising the Kurdistan Appeals Court with particular reference to Information and Communications Technology.

When we arrived in the Parish I was ‘told’ I should be on the PCC, until my stint as Chancellor.  Back on the PCC from 2014 I was Churchwarden, and following the untimely death of Graham Gilbert I project managed the construction side of Phase 2 of the Vision Project.  I was involved in the setting up of the church and community website, which I have edited since; and of setting up the St John’s Sharow Facebook page.   I am on the Friends of St John’s committee.​

Our 8 grandchildren keep us very busy and keep up our love of travelling.  Given the chance I like to be under sail.  I retain my interest in information and communication technology.  Ruth and I love our music, whether choral singing or concert going.  As a member of Rotary I particularly enjoy helping to run the Ripon Young Musicians of the Year Competition in the church.

Nota bene:

St John's is proud to be an inclusive church. We welcome everyone; irrespective of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality. Please get to know us across Church Teams, the Ministry Team, The Parochial Church Council of Friend's of St John's. You may not see yourself represented yet, but fist appearances are only that, and you'd be very welcome to join our community.