All Saints' Madeley and St. Margaret's Betley

• St. Margaret's Betley - website
• All Saints' Madeley - website

Training Incumbent
The Revd Tim Watson

Trained: Cranmer Hall. Deaconed: 2011 Chester

I’ve been vicar of Madeley and Betley since January 2021. Prior to that I was a Pioneer Minister in Portsmouth Diocese. I’m interested in mission, mixed ecology and the interplay between the local parish church and grassroots contextual expressions of mission and church. I love to see creativity and play used in worship and mission. I’m low church, quietly charismatic, open evangelical and love writing liturgy. I came to faith in Jesus at 19 having not been a churchgoer growing up and that has influenced how I seek to live out my faith. I can be contacted at

The context

The parishes are held in plurality and both parishes can be found west of Newcastle-under-Lyme near the borders of Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire.

St. Margaret’s church is situated in the parish of Betley which has a population of roughly 930 and the parish is statistically one of the wealthiest parishes in the country. There are strong links to farming. St. Margaret’s church are really good at getting out of the Grade 1 listed building and into the community where we have strong links to the Reading Room (community facility). The church is an older church with 54% of the congregation being over 75, compared to 16% of the village population. Worship in church is pretty central Church of England Common Worship with organ and robed choir.

All Saints’ church is situated in the parish of Madeley which has a population of roughly 4200 and the parish is quite mixed in terms of demographics while still being relatively wealthy compared to other parishes in the country. The church community includes a number of families but statistically there are very few people in their 20s. All Saints’ is a Grade 1 listed building. The worship is predominantly Eucharistic with very eclectic musical styles, one week it might be Bethel worship, the next, Hymns Old and New. All saints’ also hosts Living Streams, a monthly, informal, charismatic worship service.

Both churches have very good links with local primary schools which is a key part of our mission and ministry. Both churches also employ a wonderful lay children, youth and families minister.

In 2022 we jointly ran the LLF course across both parishes. There is still a journey ahead for both parishes. I would like to use the PLF however I’m keen to see where General Synod gets to. I would not expect a curate to follow my stance. 

Mission statistics (2024)