About Us
St Mary's, Cleobury Mortimer, is the parish church for all the people of Cleobury Mortimer, where all are welcome to join in worship.
Our Team
Rev. Ashley Buck, Rector
Ashley was born in Bridgnorth in 1961. He read History at Manchester University and trained for the Ministry at Cuddesdon Theological College, with parish placements at Kirkby, Merseyside, and Rotherhithe, London. He served as curate at Addington, Surrey and St Peter's Eaton Square, London, before returning to Shropshire in the Wenlock Team Ministry, where in due course he became Rural Dean of Condover. He moved to Cleobury Mortimer in 2003 and is now Rural Dean of Ludlow. Ashley is married to Jo, and they have three grown-up children.
Rev. Sue Barrett, Assistant Clergy
Sue was born in Berkshire in 1956, trained as a teacher and qualified with a BEd at Brighton University. She taught in Worcestershire where she met James and married in 1981, they have three grown up children and six grandchildren. In 2003 she trained for Ordination at The Queens' Foundation in Birmingham. She has been a Self Supporting Minister in two different parishes in Worcestershire but was called with James to open their home as a Retreat House in 2012. A move to Cleobury Mortimer in 2017 has meant the Retreat work could grow alongside her role as Assistant Minister in the Benefice.
Rev. Sarah Lupton, Assistant Curate
Sarah was born in Cornwall in 1974, studied Biochemistry at Cardiff and has a PhD in Biological Sciences from Warwick University. Sarah studied part-time on the Cuddesdon Regional Pathway based in Ludlow (CGH) and at the Queen’s Foundation in Birmingham before being ordained deacon in 2023. Sarah is a self-supporting minister and is serving in the Benefice alongside working full-time in scientific innovation consultancy with universities and other organisations. Sarah met her husband Edward through bell ringing and has two almost-grown up daughters.
Charlie Houston, Reader
Charlie grew up in Hertfordshire before attending university in Reading and serving four years in the Army. He qualified as a Chartered Surveyor and married Emma, a Shropshire girl in 1987; they have four adult children and currently live in Neen Sollars. Charlie came to faith after attending a guest service at HTB church in London and joined an Alpha course there in 1985. After becoming a Reader in 2001 he now helps to lead Alpha in the benefice, a prayer group on Monday nights and leads worship at Neen Sollars and sometimes elsewhere.
Paul Kemp, Reader
Paul grew up in Surrey in a family who worshipped in the local Baptist Church, before studying law at Leicester University, where he met his wife Avril through the Christian Union. Paul became a solicitor, specialising in family law and later trained as a Family Mediator practising both disciplines until 2013.
Though past retirement age, Paul continues to enjoy working as a family mediator, and as a mentor to other mediators, and regards it as a part of his Christian Ministry. Having lived in Worcestershire for many years, Paul and Avril moved to Cleobury Mortimer in 2019 for family reasons. Because of the demands of his family mediation work, Paul’s ministry as a Reader has been principally as a preacher of God’s Word and leading worship. This is likely to continue to be the case in the Cleobury Benefice.