St. Mary’s Ministry Team
The Associate Vicar at St Mary’s Church is the Rev’d Sally Goodson.
The Rev’d Professor Nicolas Goulding is an Associate Priest.
Jenny Goulding and Hilary Pask are Readers (lay ministers) who are based mainly at St. Mary’s. We also have two lay leaders of worship.
Two district wardens help with administration and organisation – at present these are Helen Champion and Lynn Whitwam.
A district church committee (DCC) meets regularly. The committee also has representatives on the Parochial Church Council.
Sally is Associate Priest for St. Mary’s Church. She was born in Buckinghamshire, and moved with her family to Cambridge as a teenager. After university in Birmingham she worked for many years as a Speech and Language Therapist for the NHS, working with children with special needs. She trained for ministry at STETS in Salisbury, and was ordained in 2013. She served her title in Winchester, where she was also a hospital chaplain. Sally is married to Kelvin and they have two sons. Leisure includes walking, including charity walks, and a love of Cornwall.
Professor Nick Goulding is Associate Priest at St Mary’s and a scientist. He gained a degree in Physiology & Biochemistry and a PhD in Immunopathology at Southampton University. After spending 10 years researching into arthritis at the Royal National Hospital in Bath, he and his family moved to Harpenden and he worked at Barts Medical School in London where he taught pharmacology, immunology and medical ethics. A licensed Reader for 10 years, he was ordained Priest in 1998. He combined his ordained ministry with academic medicine and was Anglican Chaplain to the School of Medicine and Dentistry from 2001 – 2016. He is now Professor Emeritus at Queen Mary University of London and acts as the Advisor for Science and Faith in St Albans Diocese.
Jenny Goulding was born in Dunstable and grew up in Bracknell. She met her husband, Nick, while studying Maths at Southampton University. Later, she qualified as a teacher and has taught music and piano in schools and privately. She has 2 children and 6 grandchildren. Jenny has been involved with church music and Bible studies since being a teenager and was licensed as a Reader in 2008. She leads the monthly afternoon family worship (Simply Worship), conducts the Christmas choir and is involved in local ecumenical events such as organising the World Day of Prayer.
Hilary Pask was born in London and trained as a nurse at The London Hospital. After working for the NHS in Hertfordshire for many years, she left her senior position in 2012 to follow other interests while also working as a staff nurse in both the public and private sectors.
Hilary was able to follow a course of study at St Albans Abbey and was presented with the Certificate in Theology in 2017. This was when she started training for Lay Ministry and she was licensed as a Reader in 2019.
When not working as a nurse or undertaking reader duties, Hilary’s main interest is music. She has recently gained the RSCM Bronze and Silver awards and is also a Fellow of the Guild of Musicians and Singers.
Hilary has been married to Philip for many years, and they live in Harpenden with their cats.
Nina spent her childhood in Chasetown, Staffordshire and has been an active member of a Church family pretty well all her life with fond memories of her first Sunday School teacher. After University in Newcastle and GP training in Harrogate, Nina moved to a GP practice in Bradford in 1988 where she met Kevin a couple of years later. After 2 children and a few consequent career changes, the family relocated to Harpenden for Kevin’s career in 2003 and continued to flourish ever since. Nina combines General Practice with clinical leadership in Luton, is a member of the Parish Giving Committee, St Marys District Committee and has been a Lay Leader of Worship since 2016.