Our Team
Hon Vice Presidents
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Hon Vice PresidentBishop Anne Hollinghurst is Principal of The Queen's Foundation, Edgbaston. She previously served as Bishop of Aston, the suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Birmingham, from September 2015 until September 2024.
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Hon Vice PresidentProfessor Nicola Slee is professorial research fellow at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education, Birmingham and Professor of Feminist Practical Theology at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. She is a leading feminist practical theologian who has published widely in the fields of spirituality, prayer, women’s faith development and poetics. She is planning to step down from her academic roles at the end of the current academic year, but intends to continue writing and leading occasional retreats as well as a ministry of spiritual direction.
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Hon Vice PresidentSir Peter was a Member of Parliament for 49 years, for two different constituencies, including as Father of the House from 2019-2024.
Sir Peter has served as a Trustree of Church of England Childrens’ Society, he also served on the Parliamentary Ecclesiastical committee.
His wife, The Rt Hon Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, was the ninth woman in the Cabinet. Sir Peter is a WATCH supporter.
Standing Committee
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ChairMartine Oborne is the Area Dean of Hounslow and the Vicar of St Michael’s in Chiswick. She was ordained in 2009, was involved in the campaign for women to be allowed to become bishops, and has been Chair of WATCH since October 2022.
Martine was a founding trustee and School Governor of the St Mary Magdalene Academy in Holloway – a new C of E secondary school which opened in 2006. She was involved with the school since its inception in 2003, helping to get this £38million new school funded, built and opened.
Martine has written, illustrated and published children’s books and novels (by Macmillan, Random House and Piatkus Books.)
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Vice ChairKristin is American by birth and moved to London 25 years ago.
She was ordained in 2014 at St Paul’s Cathedral, up the hill from her former offices in the City, where she spent 19 years primarily in the HR space in NYC, London and Moscow. Following ordination selection, Kristin was placed in an HTB plant in NW London, serving as ordinand, curate and Associate Vicar. Through the Leading Women programme and while applying for incumbency roles in London, she was confronted by the Church’s limits on full flourishing of so many vital members of the body of Christ. Both the open and conservative evangelical wings have biases and exclusion that need to be called out and tackled.Kristin now serves as an Associate on the clergy team at St Mary’s Bryanston Square, a charismatic church passionate about sharing the gospel and ministering power of the Holy Spirit alongside a commitment to inclusion. She is passionate about WATCH and the issues we are tackling within the C of E.
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Vice Chair
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Secretary
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Treasurer & AdministratorPeggy is a retired priest, now living in the diocese of Winchester. She was ordained deacon in 1987 (Derby), and priest in 1994 (St Albans), one of the first cohort of women to be ordained in the Church of England. She went on to serve as a Team Rector, Area Dean and Dean of Women’s Ministry in Southwark Diocese, before moving to the Church in Wales 2009-2021, to be Archdeacon of Llandaff.
From a prior career as a chartered accountant, as well as in ordained ministry, she has found a priority in encouraging women and girls to realise their God-given potential, and challenging injustices and abuse wherever these threaten to diminish. She is a former member of Richmond Borough Domestic Abuse Forum and trustee of Cardiff Women’s Aid.
She was an active member of both MOW (Movement for the Ordination of Women) and WIT (Women in Theology), before coming to support WATCH from its earliest days – believing that the church has a vital role to play in transforming society, in offering safety, joy and hope to all, but especially women, so that they may truly flourish.
Trustees
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Co-opted TrusteeGeorgia Ashwell is curate at St John’s Waterloo and has been ordained for two years.
Since her ordination as priest in July 2023 she began to realise more so the inequality for women in the Church of England. As a result, Georgia joined Women and the Church to support their work. She is a new trustee of WATCH and is passionate about campaigning for greater equality for all genders in the Church.
Georgia loves being outside, whether walking, cycling, or swimming. She especially enjoys being near on in the sea, scrambling up a mountain, and seeing friends.
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TrusteeNaomi is CEO of the Student Christian Movement which has been at the forefront of putting progressive theology into action for over a century. As an Anglican priest, in addition to parish ministry, she has worked in clergy training, college chaplaincy and is currently assistant pioneer minister at St Clare’s at Coventry Cathedral.
Naomi is a qualified teacher, mediator and holds advanced degrees in theology and feminist biblical studies. She is currently working on her PhD investigating a tentative theological approach to moral and spiritual development.
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Vice ChairKristin is American by birth and moved to London 25 years ago.
She was ordained in 2014 at St Paul’s Cathedral, up the hill from her former offices in the City, where she spent 19 years primarily in the HR space in NYC, London and Moscow. Following ordination selection, Kristin was placed in an HTB plant in NW London, serving as ordinand, curate and Associate Vicar. Through the Leading Women programme and while applying for incumbency roles in London, she was confronted by the Church’s limits on full flourishing of so many vital members of the body of Christ. Both the open and conservative evangelical wings have biases and exclusion that need to be called out and tackled.Kristin now serves as an Associate on the clergy team at St Mary’s Bryanston Square, a charismatic church passionate about sharing the gospel and ministering power of the Holy Spirit alongside a commitment to inclusion. She is passionate about WATCH and the issues we are tackling within the C of E.
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Trustee
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TrusteeSue is the Executive Director and Community Leader of Holy Rood House, an inclusive retreat centre in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, focusing on health and wellbeing for all. She is a Church of England priest having served parishes in Sheffield since 2007. Before that Sue worked in the voluntary sector. She is concerned that structural injustice, often wrapped up as diversity, continues to harm people within our churches in ways that can lead to a great many problems. She is committed to equality, transparency and honesty as part of our journey towards greater wholeness.
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TrusteeCathy worked as a consultant obstetrician with interests in governance and bereavement care. She now volunteers as Sheffield Diocesan Environment Officer, chairing Synod Environment Group as a General Synod member since 2021. She became a Church Commissioner in 2024, serving on the Assets and Mission Pastoral & Church Property Committees and Board of Project Spire.
Cathy supported MOW as a student and pioneered part-time training in Obstetrics & Gynaecology. She has a passion for justice and inclusion and is the Together for the CofE contact for Sheffield Diocese. Her husband is a parish priest and they’ve lived in six vicarages, enjoying developing gardens for wildlife. She plays the piano and loves singing in the church choir.
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TrusteeMike is a pioneer vicar working across a small ex industrial town in south Derbyshire where he also supports clergy as their Area Dean. He is heavily involved in chaplaincy from schools to prisons & in supporting other chaplains too.
Nationally Mike is a Unite Faithworkers Rep and has supported several clergy. He has seen a number of appalling abuses of church leaders (especially women in different types of church leadership) across the church. Mike is passionate to see WATCH continue to highlight and spotlight these behaviours that have no place in any organisation - let alone one that professes to follow Christ.
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Vice Chair
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Trustee
Revd Yvonne, a WATCH member, began Ministry as a Church Army Evangelist, Deaconess, first Black woman Deacon in the CofE, priested 1994 and loves my Ministry in the CofE.
At the core of her very strong faith is to fight injustice and empower women to be strong authentic leaders, always to be true to who they are and never give up one's integrity. Yvonne is glamorous, a pioneer and has a radiant personality.
Yvonne loves to exercise, doing boxing and learning the technique, good for cardio and tones the body. She also enjoys playing badminton, Yoga, Pilates and especially practicing Tai Chi which is very good for the mind and inner self.
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Trustee
Mary was ordained to the priesthood in 2018 and is currently the Chaplain of King’s College Cambridge, after a curacy spent in a parish in Hampshire.
She has been on the Executive Committee of WATCH since 2019 and is the lead on inclusive liturgy, a central passion of hers.
Mary greatly enjoys leading Liturgy Online and liturgy writing workshops and is currently working on a guide on crafting inclusive liturgy, for Canterbury Press.
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Trustee
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TrusteeHelen King, Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at The Open University, is a historian of medicine and the body and an authorised lay preacher in the diocese of Oxford. In 2021 she was elected to the House of Laity of General Synod, from which she was elected to the Ministry Development Board. She edits the Via Media News blog and is also a trustee of Together for the Church of England.