The Officers

The Officers of
The Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland

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Mr Martin Leckebusch

Executive President

Martin Leckebusch was born in Leicester in 1962 into a family with Methodist roots, although his own Christian commitment began during his teenage years at a Pentecostal church. He has since belonged to Pentecostal, Methodist, Anglican and Baptist congregations in the various parts of the country where he has lived.

After reading Mathematics at Oxford, Martin took an MSc in Numerical Analysis at Brunel University; from 1984 he worked in IT until taking early retirement in 2022 to devote more time to writing. He and his wife, Jane, have four daughters; their second child, a son, died in infancy. Martin and Jane live in Gloucester and worship at a Baptist church where Martin has been an Elder since 2018.

Martin has been writing hymn texts since 1987, when his first text was a metrical version of Psalm 139 inspired by reading that psalm one morning. He has published around 500 texts to date, including hymns based on all 150 psalms, collected in The Psalms: 150 metrical Psalms for singing to well-known hymn tunes (pub. Kevin Mayhew). Over 200 of his texts have appeared in around 100 collections and denominational hymnals, both in the UK and overseas; many of them are found on HymnQuest and one text, Praise to Christ, the Lord incarnate, was recorded by Graham Kendrick.

Executive Vice-President

Executive Vice-President: vacancy at present.

Robert Canham
The Rev'd Robert A. Canham

Interim Secretary

Rev'd Robert Canham was born and grew up in Chelmsford, Essex where he worked in the family Builders' Merchants for and became Managing Director. He was ordained as a minister of the United Reformed Church in 1985 and has served in pastoral ministry in Chelmsford, Brentwood and Ingatestone and, latterly, Lancaster. Robert married Jenny in 1970 and they have two sons.

Robert joined The Hymn Society in 1994. In 2000 Robert became a member of the Executive Committee and in 2002 he served as Chaplain to the Leicester Conference. In 2003 he was elected Honorary Secretary of the Society. Robert is also a Trustee of The Pratt Green Trust. Apart from hymns, Robert's passions include butterflies and their conservation, his two Labrador dogs and listening to music. Robert retired in 2012 and he and Jenny (and the two dogs), now live in the Lake District where they enjoy walking.

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The Rev'd Canon Michael Garland

Honorary Treasurer

Rev'd Canon Michael Garland studied Theology at St David's University College, Lampeter and was ordained in 1973. Following curacies in Swansea and Sutton Coldfield, he became Vicar of Kingshurst (Birmingham Diocese) in 1979. In 1988 he became Rector of Curdworth and Minworth. Since 2003 he has been Vicar of St Mary's Charlton Kings. Michael's interest in hymns began at an early age when he joined the church choir.

He became a member of The Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1977 serving on the Executive Committee for eight years before becoming Secretary of the Society from 1987-97. He served a further nine years as Treasurer (2000-2009) and in 2012 resumed that position again. A keen singer, Michael is actively involved with the Jubilate Chamber Choir in Cheltenham and with the Charlton Kings Choral Society.

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The Rev'd Dr Andrew Pratt

Bulletin Editor

The Rev'd Dr Andrew Pratt is a British Methodist Minister and Hymn Writer. Born in Paignton, Devon, he studied Zoology at university, took a Masters in Marine Biology and then taught for seven years in secondary schools. He trained for the Methodist Ministry at Queens College, Birmingham serving in various Circuits in the North West of England. He researched the hymns of Frederick Faber for a MA and then completed a PhD on the Methodist Hymn Book (1933). His book, ‘O for a thousand tongues’ based on this research was published by the Methodist Publishing House in the United Kingdom in December 2004.

He has written over 1450 hymns and has had four published collections, Blinded by the Dazzle, Whatever Name or Creed, Reclaiming Praise and More than Hymns (all by Stainer & Bell Ltd). He was a Tutor and, latterly Acting Principal in at Hartley Victoria College, part of the Luther King Foundation for Theological Education in Manchester, England, training people for Ministry. He is Chair of the Pratt Green Trust. He continues to train Methodist Preachers, writes, blogs (https://hymnsandbooks.blog/), lectures and runs workshops.

Janet Wootton
The Rev'd Dr Janet Wootton

Immediate Past Executive President

Janet Wootton has recently retired as Director of Studies for the Congregational Federation, now managing the course on which she has served as tutor in the Hebrew Scriptures and Biblical Languages, alongside her pastoral ministry, since the 1980's.

She was minister in rural and inner city churches for almost 25 years, ending with 17 years at Union Chapel, Islington. Here, the church developed a wide-ranging arts and community programme, including work with homeless people, a great variety of ethnic communities, as well as performances by world class musicians. During that time, she was chair of the London churches homelessness organisation, UNLEASH.

Janet is editor of Worship Live, part of the editorial team for Feminist Theology and chairs the International Congregational Theological Commission which publishes the International Congregational Journal. She has written and lectured on worship, mission and social issues. Her book, This is our Story, a collection of essays and stories about Free Church women's ministry was followed by a book on the contribution of women to hymnody in 2010. Her collection of hymns and other writing for worship, Eagles Wings and Lesser Things was published in 2007.

Other Executive members serve for a three-year term. If elected for a further term, they cannot be reappointed for one year.