People
LMT Logo
Dymock was at the forefront of the 'Local Ministry Team' movement, having had ministry shared by Ordained and Lay persons for over 35 years. This shared concept was formalized by our diocese into a 'Local Ministry Teams' (LMT) where spiritual care and management of the parish is shared by both ordained priests and lay persons acting together.
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We currently have one full-time priest (the vicar) who is in charge of the 'United Benefice of the Leadon Vale' and four retired clergy who assist - one retired from a career in commerce, one retired from a career as a Teacher and two retired full-time priests, plus 2 Assistant Curates in training. There are also 2 'Lay Readers' and 2 'Lay Pastors', as well as several regular members of the congregation who regularly work with the Team. There are also 4 honorary PCC Appointees: Secretary, Treasurer, Organist/Choirmaster and Bell Tower Captain.
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The Ministry Team serves the whole of the Benefice, which comprises 9 parishes with 9 churches (+1 'redundant' church) and 4 Church of England primary schools.
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For details of Dymock's officers, click here: Priests, Curates, Readers & Lay Pastors, Churchwardens, PCC Appointments
Priest
Picture, Rev'd Kat Mepham
The Rev'd Kat Mepham was appointed in June 2020 as Vicar (Priest-in-Charge) and is married to Ali who is also a priest who no longer runs a parish but is the Gloucester Diocese 'Senior Interim Minister' caring for parishes that have a problem or are in vacancy - ie: awaiting the appointment of a new vicar. They have 5 children - Molly the oldest currently at University, Tom who loves drama, Nat who is a bit of a deep thinker, Jem who never sits still and Eliza the youngest, who rules the roost.
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Kat likes taking the dogs for long country walks and being outdoors and she and Ali enjoy entertaining and being part of community. Church-wise she's been involved in pretty much everything over the years and says she loves seeing the church community and village community intertwine, all wrapped up in the love of Jesus.
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Kat submitted her resignation as our priest-in-charge in August 2024 and will be taking-up a new post at the end of October as the priest in the 3 Severnside Parishes in the neighbouring Diocese of Worcestershire. (Return to top)
Assistant Priests
Picture, Revd Andrew Perry
The Rev'd Andrew Perry is married to Janet and they have two daughters. He became a lay member of the Dymock Local Ministry Team (LMT) at its formal inception in 1981 and was ordained in 1994 as a Non-Stipendiary Minister (NSM*), when he was licensed as an Associate Priest to the Benefice as a whole until he retired as an NSM in 2014. He now has the 'Bishop's Permission to Officiate' so still takes Services and helps in the Benefice.
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Before he was ordained, Andrew trained as an Agriculturist and worked first as a manager of farms, but then for 20 years as a Grain Trader, managing a local grain co-operative before he retired from business. He was heavily involved with the Rotary Club of Ledbury's 'Tobago Diabetic Foot-care Project' to assist medics in the Caribbean to be aware of, and treat, those suffering from Diabetes, thereby reducing the previously high number of foot and leg amputations per year... and is fanatical about his lawn!
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*NSMs are now part of a larger group called SSMs - Self-Supporting Ministers. They are full priests but earn their living and practice their ministry by working in industry and commerce. NSMs are a nation-wide ministry so can be asked to serve anywhere, which may mean they have to move house and job, although that's unusual as they usually serve in a benefice or parish near to where they live. (Return to top)
Picture, Revd Richard Franklin
The Rev'd Canon Richard Franklin is married to Ann, a retired Psychologist. They have two grown up children; Kate married to Jan with two sons in Bristol, and Thomas who lives in Berlin. Richard was born and grew up in Cardiff and Ann in Aberaeron and London.
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Richard was ordained in 1978 and was curate of Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire. He moved to Dudley as Educational Chaplain to the Group Ministry, then back to parish work as vicar of Wollescote (Stourbridge), Fareham, Hants and finally Luton, where he was Area Dean and Canon of St Albans Abbey. Richard retired from full time ministry in 2013 and is now Canon Emeritus of St. Albans, with Bishop's Permission to Officiate in Gloucester diocese, so he still helps in our Benefice.
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After a lifetime of town dwelling, he and Ann looked for retirement in a rural area and they are thoroughly enjoying it, despite the feeling that they have retired from one full time job to to another. (Return to top)
Picture, Barbara Messham
The Rev'd Canon Barbara Messham: A change of career from a secondary school teacher of mathematics saw Barbara ordained in 1999. A wife to Phil, mother of five, now grandmother of eleven with the twelfth due to arrive early in 2005 means that retirement is very busy, but she does manage to play tennis and table tennis and also sing regularly.
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Asked whether you stop believing in God when you retire, she replied, "Of course not!" Still with permission to officiate, Barbara is on the minister's rota and still feels it a great privilege to minister where and when she can. "We're loving the Gloucestershire countryside after the busyness of Surrey and we've met such lovely people here". (Return to top)
Curates
Picture, Rev'd Molly Boot
The Rev'd Molly Boot is an Assistant Curate; who was ordained as a priest in June 2024 and placed in our benefice as part of their ongoing training
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Molly grew up in East Sussex in a tiny village near the sea, with brilliant parents, a younger sibling, and two dogs. After some time travelling in Tanzania, they studied theology and medieval church history in Oxford, where they became interested in the late-medieval Christian mystics (which they admit is a bit obscure!) and is currently writing a book about how those texts might help us reflect on our life and faith in the here-and-now.
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Molly is a trustee of the Greenbelt Festival and shares its passion for faith, arts and justice. They're also a trustee of the British Trust for Tantur, a charity that supports folks in the UK to visit the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, where Molly spent some time as an undergraduate.
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Outside of church life, Molly sings and plays the violin, loves swimming, and spending whatever time they can with their partner, Hannah, and their dog, Alfie. (Return to top)
Picture, Caroline Dunnett
The Rev'd Caroline Dunnett was also ordained as a priest in June 2024, following 7 years as a Lay Reader and 1 year as an ordained Deacon in the Leadon Vale Benefice. She is a Self Supporting Minister (SSM), which means she doesn't receive an income from the church but works full time as a Religious Studies teacher in a girls State Grammar Secondary school in Gloucester.

Caroline is married to Richard and they have lived in Dymock for 17 years. They have 3 grown up children; the eldest is a statistician, the middle one is training to be a paramedic and the youngest is doing a gap year before going to university. Caroline enjoys singing, crochet and can be seen twice a week running around Dymock trying to keep fit! (Return to top)