Church Staff

St Mary’s are currently looking for a new vicar, but in the meantime, our staff team are listed below.

Wai Meng Chow

Assistant Vicar

I went to Bristol to study economics and later qualified as an accountant. After working in Hong Kong for a few years, I returned to Bristol to read theology, during which I was selected for the ministry in the Church. I was ordained at St Paul’s Cathedral in 2002 and my first parish as a Self Supporting Minister (SSM) was St James the Less in Pimlico. Prior to my ordination I was a member of St John’s, West Ealing. I have lived in Ealing for many years so I was delighted at the opportunity to become SSM at St Mary’s in 2011.

I work for an investment bank as a compliance officer in the commodities division. Given my keen interest in both economics and theology, I try to draw parallels and inject insights from both seemingly opposing spheres of thought in my sermons. More importantly, I believe the twin aspects of my calling are firstly, to be a light to the world outside the church and secondly, to be a spur to the church to get out into the world.

My other interests are walking, football (TV couch version), cars (slightly faster ones) and travel.

Alex Volossevich

Assistant Vicar

My parents are Russian and came to England in the wake of the Second World War.  I was born in Chiswick, brought up in Acton and now live in Ealing.  I went to a church youth club in Acton and came to faith in my late teens at college after which I joined a local evangelical Church of England church.  I have been in that tradition ever since.

My early career was in engineering after which I diversified into management and now I help to run several businesses in the City of London.

My Christian life has been varied: brought up Eastern Orthodox, married in a Roman Catholic cathedral, my wife and I have been involved in Inter Church families and the Community of the Cross of Nails – organisations trying to bridge the gap between different Christian communities.  I have run Alpha courses, led a Christian Union at work, and preached in several countries. After holding the Bishop’s Commission as a Lay Minister since 2005 I studied for 3 years at St Mellitus College and graduated in Theology in the summer of 2018.

I have been at St Mary’s since 1999 with a focus on the evening congregation until 2017.  My passion is communication – telling people of the good news of Jesus Christ in many forms.  I preach regularly but I also write songs, poems, hymns and carols, some of which have been sung at St Mary’s.

I have a wife and two grown-up daughters.

Angela Barnfather

Commissioned Lay Minister

I was born in Ealing and have lived here all my life. I committed my life to Christ while in the youth club at St Mary’s. I worked as a primary teacher and am now retired. My interest in children has led to a desire to involve them in all aspects of church life, especially worship.

On retirement I felt called to serve God in a wider sphere of ministry within the church, and in 2007 I became a Commissioned Lay Minister at St Mary’s.

I have a particular interest in prison ministry and enjoy reading, music, walking, and visiting art galleries and Kew Gardens.

Isobel Peaty

St Mary’s Administrator

I’ve lived in Ealing all my life and have known St Mary’s and so many of its members for as long as I can remember. As a child, I attended St John’s, Mattock Lane, but joined St Faith’s Church, Brentford, when I became a Christian, aged 23. Recently we have merged congregations with our sister church, St Paul’s, also in Brentford, where I’m on the preaching team and lead worship.

I’m from a creative communications background, in digital and interactive television and then mainly with Tearfund, the international aid agency, where I was editor of the supporter website and writer for the magazine for thirteen years, and then ran internal communications across the organisation for four years.  I also managed to fit in having four children with my husband Julian in that time – two boys and two girls – which keeps us fairly busy too. 

It’s great to be part of the team here at St Mary’s.  It’s a very friendly bunch and there’s always something going on!

Ruth Wheeldon

Church Warden

I grew up in rural Shropshire in a village of 120 people. I was baptised as a teenager after I began to attend church with my sister because the local vicar stopped at our house to welcome us to the village and invited us to church. I still regularly worship there when visiting my family. I came to London as a university student studying for an engineering degree but gaining a PhD in electrochemistry and discovering a passion for teaching. After teacher training, I taught science in west London schools for 11 years before joining what is now UCL Institute of Education where I train science teachers. I have lived in West Ealing for over 20 years.

I have a keen interest in Christian unity and have been part of ecumenical groups since starting university and spent 6 years in USA working with young people and doing administrative work for an ecumenical group there.

I began worshiping at St Mary’s over 7 years ago, gradually becoming more involved. It has been a joy to get to know the congregation which so often reminds me of the small village community which nurtured my early faith through its loving welcome and sense of community.