Originally from Scotland, Lesley moved to Ludlow with her husband Alan from Surrey in 2015 on retirement from the civil service and started attending services at St Laurence’s.  A weakness for volunteering saw her, first, joining the ranks of the welcome stewards, then taking minutes at meetings of the PCC Standing committee, later being co-opted as PCC Secretary (although not a PCC member) and eventually taking over as editor of the parish magazine, Ludlow Tower.  Since being elected as churchwarden, she has relinquished the role of PCC Secretary but continues in the others and is also a trustee of the Conservation Trust for St Laurence, the Ludlow Palmers and an aspiring bell-ringer.

Dick Franks was a Senior Teacher at a very large comprehensive school in Birmingham where he was in charge of Data Management and Timetabling in addition to teaching Information Technology and Mathematics before retiring in 2012 and moving to the Ludlow area with his late wife Anne and joining the congregation at St Laurence’s in 2013.

His other roles include:

• Electoral Roll Officer for the Parish of Ludlow – St Laurence
• Safeguarding Officer for the Ludlow Benefice
• Developing and maintaining our church website
• Foundation Governor at Ludlow CE School

Michael was born in Bramall, Cheshire.  He was educated at Heaton Moor College in Stockport and at Wrekin College in Shrewsbury.

Michael trained as a chef at The Savoy in London and worked in Paris, France and Lucerne, Switzerland before joining Trust House Forte and working as Head Chef in many of their first class hotels for 46 years finishing up in Beverley, Yorkshire. He is a member of the Hotel and Catering Institute Board.

While in Beverley he was a governor of St John of Beverley Primary School and was Chair of Governors for 18 months before retiring to Ludlow in 2014.

Michael is a Ludlow Palmer and a member of the Ludlow Civic Society.

Michael was appointed as 53rd Organist/Director of Music of St Laurence’s in summer 2019. After a career in teaching in Sussex, as director of music at Worth Abbey and School, he and his wife Kate retired to Worcestershire in 2018.  His three degrees, including two in Musicology and Theology at Master’s level have helped to equip him in his passion for and experience in church music. After a brief period as organist of the great Baroque church of Great Witley, Michael was delighted to be appointed to the post at St Laurence’s.

He hopes to see the great tradition of choral singing at St Laurence’s continuing to move forward strongly.

Nicky moved to Ludlow from Kent in 2017 and first became introduced to St Laurence’s when attending the toddler group with her little boy who was 2 at the time. She remembers it being such a friendly and welcoming group and had no idea that a year later she would be appointed Parish Administrator for St Laurence’s. Having worked as a Graphic Designer for many years previously Nicky loves using her skills in this area for the monthly Tower Magazine cover designs as well as other marketing projects.

Chris was born in a village outside Dorchester – a town not unlike Ludlow. He has lived in Knowbury for the last 30 years.

He recently retired from working in a large-scale IT systems and architectural design company.  He is a Chartered Engineer and has a first degree in Astrophysics from London University.

Chris is a beekeeper and teaches beekeeping.  He had a six-year stint of being a trustee and chair of the teaching committee of the British Beekeeping Association and still stays involved.

Chris initially acted as a volunteer in St Laurence’s putting the church archives in good order.  He is now our Church Archivist and is also heavily involved with the Faculty process for the ongoing development in St Laurence’s and also assisting with the Heritage Lottery Fund Bid.

He says that he really was a rocket scientist and still owns a telescope.