All Saints Appley Bridge is a Church of England (Anglican) Church. We are part of the Diocese of Blackburn.
People say they find our church friendly and welcoming. We are part of a United Benefice with Christ Church Parbold. We share our youth groups and some special services, worship and outreach events with Christ Church Parbold.
Reverend Sue Timmins 
Sue, 54, is a Lancashire Lass, born and bred in Prestwich, North Manchester. She was a civil engineer with ICI before hearing the call to be ordained when she was 30, leaving ICI and training for the priesthood at St John’s Nottingham before becoming Curate at Iver in Buckinghamshire. She then returned to the North West, serving, in her own words, “For 15 happy years as Vicar at St John’s, Pendlebury, in the Manchester Diocese.”
Sue left St John’s at the end of July 2015 to follow a call to live and work with a Christian organisation in Nigeria, an experience she describes as “An inspiring and formative time.” She returned to England at the end of 2015 to continue voluntary work with the same organisation in Europe, and ministering to churches in the Manchester Diocese that were between parish priests.
Sue described her excitement at her appointment to Parbold and Appley Bridge: “We have a strong focus in our Diocesan Vision 2026 to make disciples, to witness and to grow leaders for Jesus Christ, and I am looking forward to seeing how God will lead us on together in our own part of that journey.”
Reverend John Mountain
John was ordained priest in summer in 2013. Prior to his ordination, John was a Reader at Christ Church, Parbold.
John takes services at All Saints’ and Christ Church Parbold including communion, baptisms, weddings, and funerals. He leads our pastoral team, so he regularly visits people who need home communion and he takes communion services in the residential homes for the elderly in Parbold. He also leads some evening courses and many morning prayer sessions at both churches.
John lives in Parbold with his wife, Anthea. He is a keen runner and can often be seen out running in Parbold with Toby, his daughter’s dog. John also likes ballroom dancing in his spare time. He is a retired priest with permission to officiate at our churches.
Reverend Peter Massey
Peter was born in Dudley, in the West Midlands and educated in Stourbridge, where he met his wife Angela. Trained as a Mathematics teacher, Peter has had various roles in the Education Service including Shropshire’s Educational Computing Advisor and a couple of Secondary Headships. At the age of 50 he retired from teaching to work on the national staff of Youth for Christ before becoming the Lay Training Officer of the Hereford Diocese. Initially trained as a Reader, Peter was ordained in 1999 and served in the parish of St Peter’s and St James’ in Hereford City. Now retired, Peter has left Hereford to live near his family in Standish and has been given Permission to Officiate in our churches. His hobbies include: amateur conjuring, model railways, messing with computers, supporting Aston Villa and the England Rugby Team; rugby is a sport he played for 25 years.
Dr Sara Ashley – Reader
Sara was first licensed as a Reader twenty one years ago. She has been a member of All Saints Church for ten years . She previously served as a Reader at St Wilfrid’s in Standish. In October 2017, she was re-licenced to All Saints’ as a Reader, and she is also a member of our church choir. She leads some services and assemblies. She has also organised some of our charity events.
Sara works as a GP, and has undertaken work at the local children’s hospice as well as helping out with services at All Saints’. Sara sometimes leads worship and preaches at All Saints’. She occasionally leads some of our evening courses. Sara is married to Mark Ashley, our Vision Champion.
Diane Green – Reader
Diane is a retired English teacher. She worked at Up Holland High School until 2012 and has been working as a volunteer in our church since then. She was relicensed as a Reader in October 2017.
Diane sometimes leads worship and preaches at All Saints’. Diane loves working with children and often leads Family Time. She also takes school assemblies and occasionally leads services held in the school. Diane is a member of PCC. She leads a fortnightly Bible Study group.
Diane and her husband, Philip, live in Parbold. With lots of technical help from Philip, Diane edits this website and runs the Facebook page jointly with Mark Ashley. Diane and Philip both enjoy singing and they are members of Standish Chorale and of All Saints’ Church All Age Choir.
Church Wardens
All Saints’ has two hard working Church Wardens who manage the day to day running of our church, look after the church building, and have many other responsibilities!
Ann Edwards, telephone: 01257 254913 John Henry, telephone 01257 425557
Church Treasurer
Jen Tyrer is All Saints’ Treasurer, responsible for keeping our accounts in good order. Jen is also a member of the choir. She is married to Mike, who is one of our Deputy Churchwardens, a member of the sidespersons team, Mission team and intercessions group.
Linda Scott – Organist
Linda Scott is All Saints’ most senior musician, playing organ, piano and flute and organising the choir. She is the accomplished musical director of Orrell Musical and Dramatic Society.
Philip Green
Philip is one of our musicians and is our deputy organist. He also plays the flute in some services. He’s a member of PCC and is our ‘go to’ person for technical and computing issues. He is an electronic design engineer by trade, and he is married to our reader, Diane .
Mike Tyrer
Mike is one of our two Deputy Churchwardens, a member of the Parochial Church Council, a member of our Mission team, and also acts as a Sidesperson. He is married to Jen our Treasurer.
Vera Young
Vera is the leader of the Girls’ Friendly Society group at All Saints’, and has many years of service to the organisation. She is the Blackburn Diocesan Secretary of the GFS in addition to her role at All Saints’.
Cath Rainford
Cath is one of our two Deputy Churchwardens. She has been a member of our Church 4 Kids leaders group for many years, and is a member of the Parochial Church Council.
Rachel Edwards-Barrot
Rachel is a member of our Church 4 Kids leaders group, and is also the Child Protection Officer for the Parish, responsible for maintaining the Safeguarding of children at our Church.
Margaret Baker
Margaret is responsible for the production of our weekly information sheet, The Link, organises the hugely popular Harvest Supper and Quiz, and is a member of the Parochial Church Council.
Mark is our Vision Champion. He seeks to keep us on track with our progress towards Vision 2026 – the Diocese of Blackburn’s vision for moving our Lancashire churches forward in discipleship. A journalist by trade, Mark helps run our Facebook page and church website and also helps with events in church. He works as a journalist for the Diocese of Blackburn. He is married to our Reader Sara.
Parochial Church Council members
Like all Anglican churches, the church is overseen by a Parochial Parish Council (PCC) which acts like a school’s governing body to oversee the work and finances of the church.
Our PCC members are: Rev’d Sue Timmins, Ann Edwards, Cath Rainford, Debbie Leyland, Janet Dunn, Jen Tyrer, John Henry, Julie Alcock, Margaret Baker, Mike Tyrer, Philip Green, Diane Green, Sara Ashley, Katy Robertson, Mark Ashley.
Helpers
We are blessed with many people who help with: welcoming people to services (sidespeople); children’s groups; house groups; readings, prayers, flowers, administration, visiting, fund raising, church yard and building maintenance, and all sorts of other activities. We thank them all for keeping our church running and helping us to welcome many people to worship with us.