Elaine has lived in Sowerby Bridge for over 20 years with her husband and two children. She attends St Paul's Church in the town and has served as a church Steward there before becoming a Circuit Steward 3 years ago. She has sat on the DPC and is currently Administrator for the District Safeguarding Advisory Group. Elaine works full time as administrator for the Calderdale Education Welfare Team. She has one granddaughter and loves spending as much time as possible with her. In her spare time she enjoys reading, gardening and flower arranging.

Philip is a member at Salem having transferred from Highgate when appointed organist in 2001. He retired in 2005 having spent almost 40 years in the chemical industry, travelling all over the British Isles selling process valves for the most corrosive and toxic duties. He is a member of the manse committee and together with others looks after the up-keep of the homes of our presbyters, he is also attempting to keep the circuit office records of quinquennial reports and schedules up to date.

Julie is a member of Mytholmroyd Methodist Chapel and training to be a local preacher. As a child she worshipped at Park Methodists in Brighouse, being both christened and married there. For over 20 years she attended Kexborough Methodist Chapel in the Barnsley circuit, before spending 4 years in Plymouth worshipping at Methodist Central Hall, Plymouth. Since December 2008 Julie has been living in Mytholmroyd, being a member of the choir and Women's club.
Julie's interests usually revolve around three main areas, family (both actual family and church family), friends and music. She plays the violin, enjoys walking and crossword puzzles and likes to chat and laugh whenever possible.
Becoming a circuit steward is the latest venture on the road to spiritual expansion and a further way, hopefully, of furthering God's work.

Vivien is now a member and organist at Ebenezer M C Bailiffe Bridge, after starting life with the long gone St John's M C at Prescott St, Halifax, followed by nearly 50 years at Hipperholme M C, now Christ Church.
She has been involved with a good few committees and groups and in organising an annual auction at Hipperholme for 20 years.She was a district pastoral manse visitor for 40 years and is presently involved in supporting the work and helpline of S.O.B.S.(Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide) and was Brighouse circuit treasurer before joining part of the team to forward God's work in Calderdale.

I never intended to be a Circuit Steward or a Local Preacher and yet I’ve somehow managed to become both – you could say I heard the call and heeded it. I was also never one for committee work but it comes with the responsibilities and I seem to have adapted quite well – I am trying very hard to resist the temptation to speak at every meeting I attend – so far without any success.
My chosen group is Church and Society and my chosen church councils are Boothtown, Heptonstall and Stones. I am a member of the current stationing group. I have been a Methodist for twenty five years having previously been an Anglican. Although we have lived in Halifax for four years my husband and I have kept our membership in Brighouse. I am a member at Ebenezer (Bailifffe Bridge) and we have close links with Central (Brighouse). I am a retired teacher and we have three grown-up sons, a cat and a dog.
As a Circuit Steward I see the formation of the Calderdale Circuit as allowing us the opportunity to work together, to push our message out into the community and hopefully to grow as we reach people of all ages. I am concerned that we make the effort to integrate, to visit each other’s churches, to be part of what other churches do, to exchange ideas, understand what works and to observe the many community based projects that so many churches have started.
As a Local Preacher I am concerned with access to and knowledge of the Bible and its message, the use of prayer and the congregations’ participation and response to prayer. I am interested in different and more inclusive forms of worship.
When I am not at meetings or preaching I enjoy amongst many other interests, holidays, studying (French and Theology), growing our own fruit and vegetables, walking in the glorious Calderdale countryside, theatre, books and doing the occasional cat visit for the RSPCA.

Martyn is a member of Central Methodist Church, Brighouse where he is a member of the Church Council and is involved in a number of church activities. He is a graduate of Liverpool University where he was one of the first students to obtain a computer science degree. He worked for many years in the Computing Laboratory at Bradford University where obtained a computer science doctorate. He retired in 2003 after working for the last twenty five years of his career at a European Commission research centre in northern Italy where he was in charge of a research unit working on cybersecurity and antifraud technologies. He is married, has three sons and lives in Lane Head Brighouse with his wife Margaret (who he met at Trinity Methodist Church, Brighouse Youth Club in 1962). He likes watching cricket (he was a member of the Italian club cricket championship winning team in 1983-87) and travelling (often to Italy to visit his two Italian/English grandchildren).

Michael is married to Jane and has two children (Mark living in Brighouse and Catherine in Sheffield) and four grandchildren. He was born in and has  always lived in Halifax and is a Chartered Accountant, having worked with the same local professional firm since leaving school at 18.

When grandchildren permit Michael is interested in most sports. But now only as a spectator! He is a lifelong supporter of Halifax Town AFC (now FC Halifax Town).

Roy is a retired textile design executive, and when he is not engaged in Church activities, he sings with the Halifax Choral Society (soon to be 200 years old), and All Souls’ Operatic Society. He is a member of the Halifax Probus club and is a Learning Link Tutor at Calderdale College. He has attended Ebenezer Methodist Church for over 60 years. His immediate family (parents, sister, himself and nephews and niece) have given a total of over 140 years of service to the Boys’ Brigade movement in Halifax.