Lent Addresses 2007
Speaker Profiles - Week 4
Monday 12th March
Chas Raws. Having read English and Divinity at London University, Chas Raws ran a family business in Liverpool for over 30 years. Much of his time is now spent as a trustee of three charities helping asylum seekers in Liverpool. He joined the Society of Friends 30 years ago and is actively engaged in ecumenical and interfaith relations both nationally and in Merseyside where he is a member of the managing council of Churches Together in the Merseyside Region and the executive committee of Merseyside Council of Faiths. His leisure interests are poetry, music and theology.
Tuesday 13th March
Ken
Pye is
a Scouser born and bred and proud of it. He began his working life in 1967, as a
Mechanical Engineering Apprentice for the Metal Box Co. Ltd. in
Speke, Liverpool - a job he hated with a passion!
Upon completing his apprenticeship in 1971, Ken obtained a post as a Residential
Assistant-Housefather,
in a unit for severely emotionally disturbed children, at a large
children’s village run by a national charity. After 3 years of this
work, Ken wanted to work with families and communities under stress, and became
a Community Projects Manager for International Voluntary Service in
inner-city Liverpool; establishing care projects and support facilities for
individuals and families at risk.
He joined Barnardos as the Merseyside Area Appeals Organiser in 1982, going on a year later to become their Regional Appeals, Education and Projects Managers, a post he held until 1990, when he decided to establish and run his own company. 'Ken Pye Associates' operated successfully throughout the 1990s and, in 1997, he was ‘made an offer he could not refuse’, to become the National Partnership Director for the Business Environment Association. In August 1999, Ken was invited to accept the post of Programme Director for Common Purpose on Merseyside. Not being previously aware of this specialist, educational, leadership-development organisation, Ken realised that here was an opportunity to draw together all the previous strands of his career. The prospect of being in a position to influence, in an imaginative, creative, and enabling way, the emerging and current leaders of a City and region that he is passionately committed to, proved irresistible. Ken is now Senior Programme Director with Common Purpose. Ken lives in Sefton Park and, among his spare time interests - apart from local history - he is an enthusiastic collector of music of a very eclectic nature! He also enjoys theatre, concerts, photography, and travel; is a renowned chef; and an enthusiastic 'bon viveur'!
Wednesday 14th March
The
Rt Revd David Jennings became Bishop of Warrington after working as a parish priest and
Archdeacon
in the Chelmsford diocese. He began ordained ministry in this diocese, in
our 'mother parish' of St Mary Walton, and has happily settled back in the
north-west. He has a particular interest in the role of the church in city
centres.
Thursday 15th March
Zia Chaudhry was educated at the Liverpool Blue Coat School and then studied at Manchester University where he graduated with the LLB degree. He was called to the Bar in 1991 and has since been a Criminal Barrister at India Buildings Chambers, Liverpool. He is Chair of the Merseyside Council of Faiths, a member of the North West Forum of Faiths and of the Christian-Muslim Forum, a member of the Religious Advisory Panel of BBC Radio Merseyside and a Trustee of the Abdullah Quilliam Society. He is married to Nabela and they have a one-year-old son Mikaal.
Friday 16th March
The Very Revd Victor Stock was educated at Christopher Wren School, Kings College London and St Boniface College, Warminster. He worked in various parishes in London including a period as Resident Chaplain to London University and was Rector of St Mary-le-Bow in the City of London between 1986-2002. He was twice Chaplain to the Lord Mayor of London. He was a Founder Trustee of the Globe Centre for people with HIV and AIDS in the City and a Founding Director of St Mary-le-Bow's Young Homeless Project. He was also a Founder Member of the Affirming Catholicism movement and a Chaplain to the Order of Australia. He was installed as Dean of Guildford in 2002. In 2003 he was awarded the Order of Australia medal for work with the Australian community in the City of London. He lists his leisure interests as gardening, London, travel, politics and broadcasting (currently on BBC Southern Counties Radio).