OUR PEOPLE

Staff

The Arthur Rank Centre is served by a committed staff team who bring skill, care and steady professionalism to the charity’s work. They help ensure that our programmes, resources and partnerships run well, and their contribution is valued and appreciated.

For general enquiries, please email info@arthurrankcentre.org.uk.

Rev’d Matt Jeffrey

Chief Executive Officer
matt.jeffrey@arthurrankcentre.org.uk
02476 853 060

Sarah Hulme

Methodist Rural Mission and Ministry Officer
info@arthurrankcentre.org.uk
020 7467 5285

Trisha Pickvance

Admin & Finance Team
trisha.pickvance@arthurrankcentre.org.uk
02476 853 060

Trustees

Our trustees bring wisdom, experience and steady guidance to our work. They give their time freely, offering honest support, good counsel and real encouragement. We are genuinely grateful for the way they stand alongside us — helping to hold the vision, safeguard our responsibilities and keep us focused on serving rural churches and communities with confidence and care.

Mark Suthern (Chair)

Mark previously worked for Barclays plc for 35 years, serving as Managing Director and National Head of Agriculture. He now holds a varied portfolio of roles, including Non-Executive Director at the Environment Agency; Lay-Canon and Senior Non-Executive Member of the Chapter at Lincoln Cathedral; and Chair and external adviser of FixOurFood at the University of York. He is also a trustee and Vice Chair of the Institute of Agricultural Management.

In recent years Mark co-chaired the GFI Finance for Farming Report (2024) and co-wrote the UK Farm Assurance Review (AHDB, NFU and others) in 2024. He has organised programmes at St George’s House, Windsor Castle, serves as Churchwarden at St Andrew’s Church, Potterhanworth, and is the former Chair of the Farming Community Network.

Revd Dr Richard Teal (Vice-Chair)

A Methodist Minister for 40 years, Richard served mostly in rural appointments. He was President of the Methodist Conference 2020-2021. He is son of a farmer, whose two sons are also farmers. He helped to write and produce ‘A Discipling Presence’.

Rt Reverend Richard Jackson (Bishop of Hereford)

+Richard was born in in London and joined the Church at 17. He studied agriculture and forestry at Christ Church, Oxford and completed a Master’s degree in soil and water engineering at Cranfield. He then worked as an agronomist, advising Farmers. +Richard trained for the priesthood at Trinity College, Bristol and following several appointments in Sussex, was installed as Bishop of Hereford in March 2020. He is presently Lead Rural Bishop as well as Clerk of the Closet.

Rev’d Prebendary Nick Read

Nick studied agriculture and forestry at Oxford. After 6 years in research he became Food Policy & Research Adviser, and later a Senior Technical Adviser, for the NFU. Ordained in 1995, he ran the Rural Stress Information Network (RSIN), based at the Arthur Rank Centre, for which he was awarded the OBE and made a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society. He has been Agricultural Chaplain in Hereford Diocese since 1998, sometimes in combination with other posts including: Diocesan Environment Officer, Director of the Bulmer Foundation, and Project Co-ordinator with South Shropshire Climate Action. He is Secretary of the Agricultural Chaplains Association.

Kate Cobbold

Kate comes from a farming family, with her grandparents farming on the Lincolnshire Wolds. After studying Geography at University, Kate went on to study for a Master’s degree in Crop Protection and Agronomy.

Since graduating, Kate has spent her career working in the seed industry in a range of roles and currently works for KWS as their Head of Product Management, leading the team that manages the various crop portfolios in the UK.

Kate is an active member at her local Methodist Church in Driffield, East Yorkshire and lives in a small village on the Yorkshire Wolds with her black Labrador, Harper.

Revd Dr Ben Aldous

Principal officer for Mission and Evangelism at Churches Together in England, the national ecumenical instrument. Previously an Anglican Priest in Cape Town (2013-2019), Durban (2010-2013) and a church planter in Cambodia (2004-2010). Ben is a missiologist and passionate about intercultural church and is a Research Fellow for Queens, and a visiting scholar for Sarum College. He also loves rural context having grown up in Cornwall and coming from a family of farmers. He has written on fresh expressions, ecumenism and speed and power in mission. His books The God Who Walks Slowly and ‘Lived’ Mission in 21st Century Britain: Ecumenical and Postcolonial Perspectives are both published by SCM Press.

David Lodder (Treasurer)

David was educated at Uppingham School and Sheffield University, where he gained a law degree. He spent his career at Lodders, becoming partner and later senior partner, before retiring in 2023. His professional focus was agricultural law, particularly supporting farming families with succession planning.

Alongside his legal work, David and his wife Kirstie have run their small family farm, which they now manage jointly with one of their sons while developing a hospitality business on the site. He continues to advise several trusts in which he serves as a trustee and is also involved in a number of local charities. David recently completed a decade as treasurer of the Farming Community Network, retiring by rotation from its board. He is a churchwarden and lifelong resident of Whitley, Henley-in-Arden. David and Kirstie have five children and thirteen grandchildren.

Revd Philip Wagstaff

Methodist minister currently Superintendent of the Hastings, Bexhill and Rye Circuit. Philip has been stationed in rural circuits for the majority of his ministry since 1986. Currently Rural Officer for the South East District of the Methodist Church having previously been the Rural Officer for Plymouth and Exeter District. Senior Tutor on the Certificate in Rural and Environmental Studies (CRES) Course.

Revd Dr Stuart Burgess

Stuart is a Methodist Minister and has served as the President of the Methodist Conference. He has chaired the Countryside Agency, the Commission for Rural Communities and served as the Rural Advocate to the Prime Minister. He has also chaired Hanover and Anchor Hanover Housing Association and the Directors of the Wesley Hotel in London. Presently working in the charity sector including chair of the Trustees of the the Ammerdown Centre in Somerset.