Our new Rector, Rev Dr Richard Coldicott

I was brought up in a small village just outside Worcester and attended secondary school in beautiful Malvern, inspiring a love for nature and God’s beautiful creation.  I studied Chemistry at Leeds University and came to faith in Christ aged 21 whilst doing research for my PhD, and my life was absolutely transformed. The excitement I found in knowing a Saviour who loves me and accepts me, yet continually draws me on in discipleship has never left me.

Fi and I got married in Leeds in 1994 just before I started teaching Chemistry at Nottingham High School, which was then an independent boys’ school. In our years in Nottingham, we had 3 children Aaron, Isaac and Gloria - all are now grown up, but 2 are still living at home, with one at university.  In 2001 I became Head of the Chemistry Department at the same school, but by then my sense of being called to ministry was growing. I headed the mission and evangelism work in the church we were attending and as I began to explore my sense of vocation through preaching, I finally submitted myself to the selection process for ordination. In 2006 we left Nottingham for Bristol where I studied theology for 2 years at Trinity College.

My curacy was served at St. Margaret’s Aspley back in inner city Nottingham in an area which suffered from a huge amount of social deprivation, and it was there that I grasped how the local church truly is the hope of the world. From Aspley we moved to Horsham in 2011 when I became Team Vicar at St. Mark’s in the Parish of Horsham. St. Mark’s was blessed enormously by the Lord and with the expansion in housing in north Horsham, when Archdeacon Fiona undertook a review of parish ministry in 2015, she recommended a new Parish was established for the area St. Mark’s served. So from 2016 I have served as the Vicar of St. Mark’s Holbrook and I have loved every minute serving that community.

At the start of 2023 I felt the Lord unsettling me and the sense that it was time to move on after 12 years in Horsham. When I read about the Parish of Hurstpierpoint and the role of Rector I was incredibly excited and felt it was right to apply. It is a joy to be appointed the next Rector of Hurstpierpoint and I cannot wait to begin in ministry with you all in 2024.

You may be interested to know a few fun facts about me – so here goes. We are serial cat owners, with Venus currently gracing us with her presence! I love vanilla lattes on the seafront at Goring and spend virtually every day off [Fridays] down at the coast.  Inspired by my love of Formula 1, in 2019 on a holiday in Germany, I drove our family in our Skoda Roomster around the Nürburgring racing circuit (the Nordschleife not the modern F1 track for those in the know!). It was exciting and terrifying in equal measure especially when being overtaken at great speeds by high performance sportscars! I probably set the record for one of the slowest laps! Other tales can wait till later! As you can probably tell, as a family we enjoy making the most of the life God has given us!

I look forward to meeting you all soon, and in the meantime my prayers go with you for the rest of this autumn season and the Advent/Christmas services and events to come.

Yours in Christ,

Richard