Our Team
Presbyters and Deacons:
Rev. Richard Byass
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Rev. Richard ByassCircuit Superintendent Minister Bestwood Park, Gedling Road, Sherwood and St. John's Methodist Churches Richard was born in West Africa and spent much of his early life there. After secondary school back in the UK he thought he was going to go into architectural design, but God had other designs (pun intended) and as a result of responding to a distinct call on his life, he began preaching at 17, before ending up at Cliff College for his undergraduate degree, and then in training at Manchester before entering circuit ministry in 2004 in Cheshire, and then moved to North Herts. in 2009. He more recently completed an MTh at the University of Aberdeen. Now in his third appointment, and having been in NNE since 2017, Richard brings over 20 years of experience in local church ministry and a growing number in Superintendency! He is engaged in some committee work for the Methodist Church nationally, and remains committed to emphasising hospitality, justice and well-being in church life as well as seeking to enable people to grow together as faithful disciples, individually and as a community. Richard has two teenage children, one of school age, the other off to University, and a black Labrador called Ossie! (Superintendent Minister) |
Rev. Jason
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Rev. Claire Sutcliffe
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Rev. Claire SutcliffeProbationer Presbyter Arnold and Calverton Methodist Churches Claire has have lived in Leicestershire all her life. For the last 8 years she first worked for the Leicester West Circuit as a Children and Families Worker and then for the Hinckley Circuit as a Children and Families Community Worker. Previous to that as a family they fostered 16 children over a 10-year period. Claire felt the call of God on her life during lockdown in 2020 and began studying part time at Queens Foundation College in 2022. She is married to Dave, who is a nurse, and they have two children: Jack, who is working and Thomas who is currently studying for his A levels. They have a cat called Bert and a dog called Ernie. They love to explore local walks with Ernie and are looking forward to exploring a new area with him. Claire loves to explore creative ways to worship God and how we can connect with God in nature. Music plays a big part in her life, having played trumpet in the Leicester Community Concert band for the last 6 years. She loves to sing and to relax she enjoys creating items through crochet and sewing. |
Rev. John Wiseman
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Rev. John WisemanPresbyter Hucknall Central, Hucknall East Side and Ravensworth Road Methodist Churches, and The Church on Rise Park Born and brought up in the Promised Land ie Wigan, John is a former biochemist and physiotherapist who has lived and worked at a street clinic for destitutes in Calcutta, India and taught physiotherapy at a spinal injuries centre in Bangladesh. His ministerial training took him to Manchester, Atlanta and Cambridge (where he trained alongside Andrew) before being posted to his initial appointment in Swansea followed by a further 5 years in Poynton. John enjoys trail running at a sedate pace in the Peak District and local area, has an extensive film collection, enjoys live music and theatre and is the author of a daily, often irreverent, on line blog. In 2017 as part of his sabbatical, John walked 800km across northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route. John enjoys looking for creative ways to make the gospel message contemporary and compelling to the world in which we live. |
Deacon Julie Morton
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Deacon Julie MortonDeacon Nottingham City Centre Pioneer, and Arnold Methodist Church Julie is married to David. Both previously widowed, they have three children and four grandchildren between them. She is originally from Barnsley in South Yorkshire. She was employed by the Health Service, mainly in Human Resources, for the first 14 years of her working life and based in Barnsley and Sheffield. She has had a variety of jobs since, including working for Action for Children where she was the Office Manager of a brand new Sure Start programme, a Recruitment Co-ordinator for a Job Skills programme, and later a Job Skills tutor. Julie is passionate about being alongside people who find life tough, and enabling them to see that there is hope and they are loved beyond measure. It was this passion which first formed the basis of her call to the Diaconal Order. Julie trained for the ministry part time at St John’s University in York whilst also working for the York Circuit where she spent time with both rural and urban church communities. Her first appointment was in Telford where she served for 7 years doing pioneer work on a new housing development whilst also working alongside 5 Methodist churches. She enjoys playing the Djembe drum when possible, doing bible journaling and swimming. |
Deacon Helen Snowball
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Deacon Helen SnowballDeacon Bestwood Park Church, Phoenix Farm and Sherwood Methodist Churches Deacon Helen Snowball was born and raised in Darlington, Co Durham, with two sisters and a labrador. After 6 years working in London as a secretary, she returned to Darlington and worked for Lloyds TSB and then a Turkish property developer. An accredited local preacher, she finally listened to God’s call, and candidated to become a deacon, and began ministerial training at The Queen's Foundation, Birmingham in September 2017. She was stationed to Nottingham from September 2019, predominantly working with Gedling Road and Phoenix Farm Methodist Churches, and has felt very much welcomed in the circuit. As a deacon, she enjoys being a member of the Religious Order and the daily rhythm of their rule of life and their daily prayers, but she also enjoys reading, eating out and watching movies. |
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Lay Staff:
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Cath Smith
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Cath SmithCircuit Administrator Born in Sheffield, Cath remains a Yorkshire ‘Gal’ at heart despite living in the East Midlands since starting at Leicester University in 1983. She met her husband Nigel there and they have been blessed with two grown up children and a new daughter-in-law. Cath feels that she is now at that point of life where she learns more from her children than they learn from her! Part of the Methodist Church all her life it was a huge privilege to begin working for the church in 2014 as circuit administrator. To her great surprise*, Cath was accredited as a local preacher in 2014. Cath sees her role as taking some of the burden of administration away from staff and local churches, freeing them up to bring God's Kingdom to this corner of Nottingham. (*Editor's note: though no-one else's!) |
Marc Williamson
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Marc WilliamsonCircuit Youth Worker & Vision Co-ordinator Marc works closely with young people through Nuthall and Hucknall East Side Methodist Churches, and supports a growing number of schools in the circuit through chaplaincy and assemblies (amongst other things). Marc's remit also includes helping the circuit achieves its stated vision, and helping churches explore their visions. His own vision is to see the people of the circuit deepen their faith, get excited about worship, equipped for mission and ready to share the Gospel with their communities. Marc has a degree in Youth Work and Applied Theology, and has worked for churches since leaving school in 2004, across 4 denominations and 2 countries of the UK, but has found a "home" within Methodism! Marc moved to Nottingham in September 2016 with his wife Suzanne and 2 children, Micah and Eliana. In September 2024 Marc started studying part-time at The Queen’s Foundation towards becoming a Presbyter in the Methodist Church, and is anticipating becoming a probationer presbyter in September 2027. He doesn’t have much spare time, but in those moments he enjoys family, music, film and television, reading, technology, food and coffee (amongst other things!) |
