At the WATCH Annual General Meeting on Saturday 24th November, following an open election between three excellent candidates, Hilary Cotton was elected as the organisation’s new Chair for the next three years. One of the founder members of WATCH in 1996, Hilary co-ordinated the WATCH campaign for women to be bishops from 2010-2012 and has previously been a Vice-Chair. She will combine her Chairing role with her work as a leadership and team-working consultant in the public sector.

The outgoing Chair Rachel Weir was warmly thanked for the bold and committed leadership she had shown during her three years in office. She was presented with a purple stole embroidered with silver crosses and the WATCH logo.

In her election address, Hilary looked beyond the immediate task of campaigning for women bishops to remind the meeting of WATCH’s broader concern for all women in the church, both lay and ordained: ‘I want WATCH to continue to be a vibrant, inspiring and serious-thinking organisation. We need to be both engaged in the life of the Church of England and drawing the Church into new ways that recognise, value and release women’s gifts and wisdom, for the good of all.’