Chair: Oliver Baldwin, St Stephen’s House
The Chair has overall oversight, and should be the initial point of contact for those outside OA. However, if you are an ordinand in training, please also feel free to contact your college or course representative.
I’m a second-year residential student at St Stephen’s House, Oxford. Before that I worked as a Pastoral Assistant at a church in sunny Tottenham, North London. I hope I’ll be able to represent smaller colleges and the breadth of the Church of England. As chair, I want to be able to bring together voices and experiences from the whole ordinand community. I believe our collaboration as ordinands will not only make our training the best it can be but also prepare us to work together in the vineyard beyond ordination.
Secretary: James Gould, St Hild College
The Secretary maintains OA’s address and contact lists, liaises with training institutions, and takes minutes of OA meetings, distributing them to college representatives.
I am based in Sheffield Diocese (it’s amazing!) and am on a full-time contextual training pathway with St Hild. I have been married for 12 years and have two children. Before ordination training, I was a primary school teacher for 10 years, before that I made thousands of coffees in Starbucks for 4 years. I hope my presence on the Ordinand Association will foster good communication between Ministry Division and Training Institutions to make the training experience as good as it can be.
Treasurers: Liane Chalmers and Frances Caroe, Ripon College Cuddesdon
The Treasurer keeps our financial records, pays expenses, prepares the annual accounts, and takes responsibility for ensuring that our finances are in good order. Each training institution is invoiced for its subscription in the autumn.
Liane: I am sponsored by the Diocese of Portsmouth. I’m Currently studying the MA programme on the Context training pathway at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, with my context church based on the Isle of Wight. Before training, I was a teacher and have taught all ages from nursery through to A Levels, but mostly I was a Religious Studies teacher in a secondary school. I would like my role in the OA to work in two ways; firstly, to enable MinDiv and the TEI’s to understand the concerns of Ordinands from the ground up and secondly, to get an understanding of how the central church is organised, makes decisions and allocates funding.
Frances: I am a full-time residential student at Ripon College Cuddesdon, sent from the Diocese of Oxford. Most recently I have been a gardener, managing a large allotment in East Oxford for a local charity; before that I worked in Japanese Studies. I believe very strongly in representation and collaboration, so hope that I can help us in the OA to foster those kinds of relationship between ourselves, our training institutions, and the wider Church.
Ordinands 