Meet the team
Clergy
Rector
Father David Peebles
Fr David comes from Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of England but has lived all over the place. University in Bristol, Durham and Manchester, followed by teaching in Bath and then a curacy in Crewe, followed by teaching again in West Yorkshire. He came to London in 1995 and was the chaplain of Queen Mary College in the East End and also parish priest of Bethnal Green. In 2001, he became Chaplain of the London School of Economics and remained there for ten years until he became Rector here at St George’s in 2010.
His mission is to help St George’s to be a Parish Church for all people; so that nobody is excluded. The gospel is about the whole of humanity and the utter self-giving of God in Jesus Christ to us. St George’s attempts to bring curiosity and fun as well as solemnity and depth to our Christian faith. You would be very welcome indeed to just turn up.
Honorary Assistant Priest
Revd Phillip Dawson
Fr Phillip was ordained deacon in 2023 as Curate at St Giles-in-the-Fields, our neighbouring parish, and then ordained priest in 2024. He is with us at St George’s one Sunday a month and assists with our theology book club and annual retreat days. Before to ordination Phillip worked as a Director of a firm of architects and served as Non-Executive Director of a number of local charities. He is President of the Enfield Talking Newspaper for the Blind. Phillip is currently undertaking an MPhil in World Christianity at the University of Cambridge. As well as his duties at St Giles-in-the-Fields and St George’s Bloomsbury, Phillip supports Fr David as one of the Honorary Chaplains to The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Honorary Assistant Priest
Father Rene Jarrett
Father Rene comes from Sierra Leone and has been in the UK since 1988. He has been assisting in the Edmonton Diocese and presently is Honorary Assistant Priest at St George's. He is also Chaplain to the Sierra Leone community in the UK.
Parochial Church Council
Julian Sharpe
Churchwarden
Sara Payne
Safeguarding officer, Secretary
Helena Roden
Churchwarden
Dorothy Connell
Deanery Representative
Neil Handley
Reader
Carmen Bailey
Member
Mabel Alonso
Treasurer
Serving team
Michael Taylor
Sacristan
Esther Kim
Jack Highton
Reader
Staff
Hiring & caretaker - Noel
Noel handles all bookings and enquiries regarding hiring the church, vestry hall and meeting room. If you would like book our hall or meeting room please contact him here. Noel also handles all matters relating to the site, buildings and facilities management of St George’s.
Finance & accounts - Pat
For all matters relating to accounts please contact her here.
Music Team
Director of Music
Sam Bardsley
Sam Bardsley started singing as a chorister in his local parish church and has gone on to sing with some of the finest cathedral choirs in the country. Before commencing study at the University of York, Sam was a choral scholar at Southwark Cathedral and when not committed there worked as a freelance singer and conductor with various choirs in London and the South-East.
When he moved to York, Sam was a choral scholar at York Minster and was fortunate enough to sing at the annual Royal Maundy service and appear on live broadcasts and recordings with the Minster choir. Solo appearances have included lead roles in Dido and Aeneas, Monteverdi operas, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi Gloria, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and other oratorio. Whilst in York, Sam studied with Iestyn Davies and David Lowe and currently studies with Ben Johnson.
Sam has been the organist at St George’s since 2012 and has directed acclaimed orchestral performances of works including both Mozart and Fauré Requiems and Bach’s Magnificat.
Choral Young Artist
Anna Golitzin
Anna Golitzin is from rural Northern California, where as a child she learned to sing at a Russian Orthodox church. She developed a love of renaissance choral music through her mother, and went on to study Early Music History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
During her university years, Anna studied harpsichord and basso continuo with Joseph Gascho, and performed in baroque operas. One of her favourite performances was an improvisation based on a poem with her baroque trio, using ground bass and inventing a melody to fit the text.Anna followed her love of singing polyphony to England, where she studied with Robert Hollingworth and Alex Ashworth in a masters in Solo Voice Ensemble Singing.
In London, Anna has sung with various choirs including Robert Hollingworth's I Fagiolini and Greg Skidmore's Lacock Scholars. Anna is a primary school music teacher, and deeply enjoys designing a curriculum of singing and music history for the girls at Falkner House School.
Choral Young Artist
Francis Melville
Francis Melville is a tenor currently studying on the master's course at the Royal College of Music, under Ben Johnson, where he is a Big Give Award Holder and is supported by the Janet Baker Trust. He initially studied medicine at Imperial College, London and worked as a junior doctor at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital from 2020 until 2022.
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His opera debut was as Miguel in Pepito at Imperial College and subsequent roles include Count Almaviva in the Barber of Seville with King’s College Opera. He was a young artist at the Ludlow English Song Weekend in April of last year and has performed in the chorus at Grange Park Opera and The Grange Festival.
Choral Young Artist
Laura West
Laura West is a German/British old soprano based in London, England. She is currently an undergraduate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, with a scholarship, under Marcus Van Den Akker. Until July 2021 she was enrolled at The Royal College of Music Junior Department, with help from the Peter Rogers music scholarship, under Jean-Claude Ohms. Laura has placed in many competitions thus far in her career, including the Kath Topping Vocal Award (2021), Woodard Young Musician of the Year (2020), as well as the first vocalist to place 3rd in the RCMJD performance competition, and recital competition.
Roles Include Amor, Orfeo Ed Euridice- Gluck (Barefoot Opera) and Frost, Selfish Giant- John Barber (Garsington Youth Opera). In 2021 Laura was selected by Roderick Williams to sing in his masterclass; other masterclasses include Jane Highfield in 2018. She has also performed at prestigious venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, St. James’ Piccadilly, The Royal College of Music Concert Hall, Britten Theatre, Garsington Opera, The Barbican and Rochester Cathedral.