The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, has announced four new Prebendaries of St Paul’s Cathedral. They will be installed during a service on 2nd February 2025.
The Revd Clare Dowding, the Revd Andy Rider and the Revd Derek Winterburn will join from the clergy. Monica Bolley will be installed as a lay prebendary.
The Revd Clare Dowding is Area Dean of St Marylebone, and has been Rector of St Paul, St Marylebone for ten years. More recently, she was appointed Priest in Charge of St Cyprian, Clarence Gate and is developing an active partnership between the two parishes. During 2023 Clare served as acting Archdeacon of Charing Cross. Clare has worked with faith communities across Westminster, and in the diverse estates parish and school where she serves. She has successfully developed projects and partnerships around healthy communities and wellbeing, including a weekly community meal and mental health drop-in — combating loneliness, food poverty and health inequalities locally. In 2022 St Paul St Marylebone was recognised for its pioneering sustainability work with the Gold Eco-Church Award — the first estates-based church in the UK to achieve this. Clare is Chair of Church Street Regeneration Community Group working with residents and Westminster City Council to ensure that the parish is at the heart of shaping social housing, green spaces and future development. Clare has been instrumental in developing an estates network across the Two Cities Area, drawing on her 30+ years in urban and estates ministry and her passion to make the love of God visible in the forgotten corners of the world.
The Revd Andy Rider is Dean of Mission for the Stepney Area and served over 8 years as Area Dean of Tower Hamlets prior to that. Alongside his Dean of Mission role, he is licensed to and supports Bow Church. Andy has been instrumental in bringing mission and growth high up the agenda in Stepney, through governance, leadership, training, and personal influence. He wrote much of the Stepney strategic documents early in the development of the 2030 Vision and provided data to help towards better decision making. He has also helped to influence other areas within the Diocese in their thinking about mission and growth. He is at the heart of current SMMIB planning, particularly around estates ministry. Andy stepped in with wisdom and commitment in the times when there wasn’t an archdeacon. He is a bi-vocational priest working part time as Director of Chaplaincy with the Langley Trust and takes seriously his commitment to enabling those with convictions to rebuild their lives.
The Revd Derek Winterburn has served his nearly forty-year ordained ministry entirely in the Diocese of London. Following ten years in the Stepney Area (three in Islington and seven in Hackney), he moved to Hampton in the Kensington Area where Derek served as Vicar of St Mary’s for twenty years before moving to his present post at St James Hampton Hill. As Area Dean of Hampton, Derek provided a clear, pastoral, and wise local leadership, hugely appreciated by clergy colleagues and the bishop’s team alike. He has also been a long and passionate advocate of the urgent need for parishes to engage with climate crisis and continues to be the lead for Creation Care in the Kensington Area. Bishop Emma writes: “Derek is a very well-loved local parish priest, whose wider leadership and advocacy, especially for Christians to respond to the climate crisis with urgency and commitment, continues to make a significant difference far beyond his own parish.
Mrs Monica Bolley (lay) has served the Diocese of London for over 40 years and most recently as Head of Governance, heading the multilayered governance operations of the Diocese of London. Monica has been a tireless champion of Racial justice within the diocese, actively helping to shape policies and best practice. She has taken an active role in leading worship in her parish and has served as trustee on various boards, including schools and a missionary agency.
Prebendaries are appointed by the Bishop of London after consultation with the Dean of St Paul’s in recognition of their work in the Diocese. As part of the roles in the Greater Chapter of St Paul’s, they are each given their own stall in the quire, are invited to preach once a year and are given a portion of the Psalms to recite each day. They also play a valuable role in maintaining the Cathedral’s close links with the parishes of the London Diocese.
The Bishop of London, The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, said:
“I am thrilled to welcome these four new prebendaries. They have all played a remarkable role in the life of the Diocese of London throughout their ministerial and vocational lives. This recognises the impact that they have had on the lives of others as witnesses of the gospel.”
Dean of St Paul’s, the Very Revd Andrew Tremlett, said:
“It is absolutely wonderful to see four new people join the Cathedral’s community of Prebendaries. I look forward to working with them in their new role and seeing how they can bring their talents to further the Cathedral’s links with parishes in London.”
The new Prebendaries and their Prebendal Stall:
Revd Clare Dowding – S. Pancratius
Revd Andy Rider – Harleston
Revd Derek Winterburn – Cantlers
Monica Bolley (lay) – Twiford