Who's who here at St Philip's Church

Clergy

The Reverend Pippa Turner, our Parish Vicar, provides overall leadership for St Philip’s.  She is in charge of our services and chairs the church’s main decision-making body, the elected Parish Church Council. 

The Reverend Margaret Ayo, our Associate Priest, who is with us most Sundays and supports the mission and ministry of the parish. 

The Reverend Helen Calner, ordained priest June 2023, is our Curate who will be serving St Philip's for three years in her training post. Originally from Sweden and serving as a Deacon in the Swedish Church in London, she became an Anglican and trained at St Hilda’s Church in Ashford and St Mellitus College London. 

The Reverend Lesley Perry, our Visiting Priest, has a long history of ministering to St Philips church and assists on Sundays from time to time.

Introducing our new Director of Music - Laurence Long

Laurence joined St Philips Church in September 2023

Laurence says: Hello everybody! I’m Laurence, and I’m very much looking forward to starting as the new Director of Music. I really enjoyed coming to St Philip’s to play and conduct for a service in July. I was struck by how friendly everybody is and what a wonderful welcome I received. If you have an interest in singing, then please do let me know, as we would love to have more people joining the choir. I look forward to meeting you soon! contact Laurence at music@specr.org

Church Wardens

The Church Wardens – Mallindi Baldasarro and Jamie Mangan – identify issues, such as church security and building maintenance, and ensure proper procedures are in place and that the general condition of the church is good.

Electoral Roll Officer

Chris Luxton is our Electoral Roll Officer.  Please contact her at Chris.Luxton@specr.org for more information, and/or complete this form to join our Church Electoral Roll.

Parish Church Council

The Parish Church Council is the main decision-making body for St Philip’s. It meets around six times a year. The Council’s Standing Committee also meets around five times a year and acts as a kind of leadership team, taking a strategic look at the major issues facing the church, preparing ahead of Church Council meetings and following up after them.

Administration

Our Church Manager, Laura Sylvester, helps ensure the church runs smoothly, running the lettings and other administrative work.

Sean Collins, our caretaker, helps keep the building clean and tidy.

The church depends on the growing number of volunteers who give their time to the church, and we have a growing lay leadership taking responsibility for whole areas of the church’s life.

See Volunteering for more information.

Finance

Our Treasurer, Rupert Steele, oversees St. Philip’s expenditure and ensures we have sufficient money to carry out our aims and objectives.

Rupert also provides clear audit trails to our independent examiner, Harmer Slater Limited, and presents our annual accounts at the Annual General Meeting.

Links with other local churches

St Philip’s is linked with St Barnabas, Kensington through St Barnabas and St Philip’s Primary School in Pembroke Mews. The two churches work together to provide services for the school at special times during the academic year.