Maintenance and Restoration Expand Occasionally, certain areas of the Cathedral may be temporarily closed for essential maintenance and restoration work. Our priority is to preserve this historic site, and while we strive to minimize disruptions, some closures may be necessary.
Special Services and Events Expand Throughout the year, the Cathedral hosts a diverse range of special services, concerts, and events. During these occasions, certain areas may have restricted access. Please check this page for details on upcoming events and any associated closures.
Filming Expand St Albans Cathedral is a popular location for filming. While we do our best to accommodate filming crews without impacting visitors, there may be occasions when specific areas are closed or have limited access during filming sessions. We appreciate your understanding in helping us share the beauty of our Cathedral with a broader audience.
Seasonal Holidays Expand Please note that St Albans Cathedral typically observes adjusted opening hours or closures on public holidays. Our only full closure is on Christmas afternoon, allowing our staff and volunteers to enjoy this special time with their families.
The Very Rev'd Jo Kelly-Moore Dean of St Albans Expand Dean of St Albans Jo Kelly-Moore was installed as the 10th Dean of St Albans in December 2021. In the Church of England she previously served as Archdeacon of Canterbury and Residentiary Canon of Canterbury Cathedral. In the Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia she served as Dean of Auckland and prior to that Vicar of St Aidan’s, Remuera. Before her ordination in 2000 she worked as a solicitor in New Zealand and London working in the area of commercial litigation. [email protected]
The Rev'd Canon Dr Jennifer Cooper Canon Chancellor Expand Executive Residentiary Canon (From June 2026) Jennifer will be our Canon Chancellor which means that she is responsible for the Cathedral’s programme for learning (including schools, adult learning, community engagement), the Cathedral’s welcome to visitors, as well as growing pilgrimage and nurturing ecumenical relations. Hailing from Canada, Jennifer joins us from The Dioceses of Durham and Newcastle, where she has been the Director of Initial Ministerial Education since 2019 and is currently the Canon Theologian at Newcastle Cathedral. Prior to that, for 10 years, Jennifer was Academic Dean and Lecturer in Theology at the College of the Resurrection Mirfield and associate Lecturer at the University of Leeds and Sheffield. Jennifer has also been theological consultant to the International Anglican Roman-Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission. [email protected]
The Rev'd Canon Will Gibbs Canon for Mission and Pastoral Care Expand Executive Residentiary Canon Will Gibbs is the Canon for Mission and Pastoral Care and oversees the pastoral care and support of the regular Cathedral congregations, our teams of lay pastoral assistants and bereavement visitors, homegroups and coordinates weddings, baptism and funerals. He is Chapter Lead on Safeguarding and the Environment, coordinates our partnerships with charities and our social justice work and chairs the Mission and Ministry Committee. He is married to Claire who is a primary head teacher and they have two daughters. Will is Chair of the House of Clergy of the Diocesan Synod, sits on the Bishops Council and Diocesan Board of Patronage and chairs the Diocesan Wellbeing Group. He captains the Diocesan Cricket Team and is in his happy play cooking and watching Hemel Storm Basketball team. [email protected]
The Rev'd Canon Tim Bull Diocesan Director of Vocations Non-Executive Residentiary Canon Expand Non-Executive Residentiary Canon Tim is an Anglican Priest serving at St Albans Cathedral and as the Diocesan Director of Ordinands for the diocese of St Albans. Previously Tim has been a country vicar, a trainer in church leadership, a chartered software engineer, and a university lecturer in computer science. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, a member of the Society of Ordained Scientists and was elected in 2015 to the Church of England’s governing General Synod. His current interests include artificial intelligence and faith responses to post truth and disinformation. [email protected]
The Rev'd Canon Tim Lomax Diocesan Director of Mission and Ministry Expand Non-Executive Residentiary Canon Tim is Director of Mission and Ministry in the Diocese of St Albans and Residentiary Canon. He leads the team supporting lay and ordained vocations and leadership development, ongoing training, work developing flourishing churches and planning for mission, social action and growing younger and more diverse. Tim is married to Kate and they have three grown up children. [email protected]
Helen Gray Senior Non-Executive Member Expand Senior Non-Executive Member Helen is currently the Trust Director at Benefact Trust, a national grant making charity supporting Christian places of worship and charities. She has over 15 years’ experience in the charity sector having worked at both St Albans Cathedral as Head of Operations and Development Manager and more recently at Hertfordshire Community Foundation as Foundation Director. Helen’s earlier career included roles at both CMS Cameron McKenna (a top ten city law firm) and Baker Tilly (a national accountancy firm) where she was a Regional Business Development Manager. Helen is passionate about addressing inequalities and ensuring grant funding effects positive social change. She has a degree in engineering. She first attended St Albans Cathedral over 15 years ago and has been an active volunteer ever since.
Delbert Sandiford Expand Delbert has been a member of the congregation since 1998. At various times he has been a member of the Abbey Assembly, the Congregational Giving Committee, and Deanery Synod. Currently he is a member of the Cathedral Social Justice Group. Professionally he has worked for a number of organisations in the public, private, and voluntary sectors – primarily in finance and planning. He has been a Trustee of USPG, an Anglican mission agency. Following retirement from full time work he chaired Hertfordshire Probation Trust; and Workplace Matters, an ecumenical partnership. He holds degrees in Economics from the London School of Economics, and Birkbeck College; and an MBA from City University.
Judith Relf Chair of Finance Committee Expand Chair of Finance Committee Judith's professional career centred mainly around business clients and leading large teams in the Retail, Commercial and Corporate banking sectors. Judith is a Fellow of the London Institute of Financial Services and an Honorary Freeman of the City of London. Throughout her life Judith has been a member of a parish within the St Albans Diocese and for the past 22 years a member of the church family in Woburn. In March 2023 Judith was appointed 'Founder member of the Holy Dusters' at St Albans Cathedral, now a growing team of eight dedicated, passionate volunteers. Judith is married to Matthew and they have two children and three young grandchildren.
The Rev'd Jason Wratten Minor Canon, Youth Chaplain Expand The Rev'd Jason Wratten starts in late spring.
The Rev'd Vanessa Jefferson Precentor Expand Precentor As Precentor, Vanessa is responsible for the cathedral’s liturgy and worship and enables the planning and delivery of worship. The word Precentor comes from Latin praecantare "to sing before," and the Precentor sings the responses and officiates at Evensong. Previously Vanessa was curate at Christ Church Waltham Cross in St Albans Diocese, she trained for ministry at Westcott House Cambridge and before training was working with the Hatfield Team Ministry and the University of Hertfordshire Chaplaincy as a Pastoral Assistant. A native of St Albans Diocese, Vanessa grew up in Hemel Hempstead, she studied law at the University of Hertfordshire. Vanessa came to faith through singing in her parish choir at St Johns Boxmoor so it is fitting that she now combines her love of music with her priestly ministry. [email protected]
Margaret Stratton Cathedral Reader Expand As a Lay Reader, Margaret is licensed to preach, and take some other liturgical roles. Having been a member of the congregation for all of her adult life, Margaret engages in pastoral work and has led the bereavement support team for a number of years. She also creates rotas and organises training for some of the lay people who participate in services. Prior to her role at the Cathedral, Margaret was a teacher at St Albans School for most of her career, and was Head of the Mathematics department until her retirement. [email protected]
Michael Birkett Chief Finance Officer Expand Mike joined the Cathedral in 2024, having worked in a number of blue chip CFO/Finance Director roles, most recently the online stockbroker, Share plc. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant working at both Deloitte and KPMG. Mike is a passionate historian with a History degree from Durham University. Mike has lived locally for 14 years with his wife and two teenage daughters but is proud to be born and bred in Yorkshire. Outside work, Mike loves walking their dog in the wonderful local countryside and watching any live football. [email protected]
Michelle Ovenden Head of HR and Office Support Expand Michelle spent the first part of her career working for Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, managing Waitrose supermarkets as Store Manager and then latterly working in graduate recruitment and training. She joined the Cathedral in 2013 supporting the Development and Fundraising team with her focus being the capital fundraising project, Alban, Britain’s First Saint. After a short break between 2015 and 2017, Michelle returned to the Cathedral in 2017 to work in Operations and Human Resources. She has held her current post as Head of HR and Office Support since 2022. [email protected]
Gemma Jones Head of Marketing and Visitor Experience Expand Gemma joined the Cathedral in 2020, having worked at Cancer Research UK for 10 years in various marketing roles around ‘Race for Life’ and ‘Shine’ a night time walking marathon. Prior to that she worked in communications and events roles for Coventry City Council. Gemma is also a volunteer Director for St Albans Business Improvement District (BID).Gemma is originally from Warwickshire and has lived in St Albans for the past 12 years, with her husband and two young daughters, who are all avid football fans! [email protected]
William Fox Director of Music Expand William Fox is the Director of Music at St Albans Cathedral, where he directs the Cathedral Choirs and oversees all aspects of the Cathedral’s musical life. He is also Musical Director of the St Albans Bach Choir. William began his musical education as a chorister at York Minster, before holding organ scholarships at Wells and Hereford Cathedrals. After becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists as a teenager, William was then organ scholar and a prizewinning academic scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. Before coming to St Albans, William spent six years at St Paul’s Cathedral, first as Sub Organist and then as Assistant Director of Music. William teaches at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and gives recitals throughout the UK. As a continuo and orchestral organist William has recently appeared with the Gabrieli Consort and Players, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the City of London Sinfonia and the Cardinall’s Musick. [email protected]
Wider team Meet the rest of the team Expand Abbot's Kitchen Lucy Corbett | Abbot's Kitchen Manager Cathedral Office Lizzie Birnie | Office Manager Ellie Lewis | Office Assistant Suzanna Cheek | Diary and Events Office Assistant Penny Fray | Executive Assistant to the Dean Jo Clark | Canon's PA Development and Fundraising TBC | Development and Fundraising Executive Finance Claire Stephenson | Finance Manager Learning Caroline Godden | Adult Learning Officer Isabelle Thompson | Adult Learning Executive Claire Frearson | Education Officer Rachel Rimmer | Education Officer Steve Clarke | Education Officer Hillary Childs | Learning Administrator Marketing, Events and Visitor Experience Will Glendinning | Marketing and Communications Executive Luke Hoskisson | Marketing and Communications Executive Elouise Wathen | Events and Visitor Experience Manager Melissa Alexander | Visitor Donations Manager Music Dewi Rees | Assistant Director of Music Conor McGlone | Organ Scholar Julia Bell | Chaperone Lucy Caperon | Chorister Care Co-ordinator Amanda Caston | Chaperone Kirsty Mauldridge | Chaperone Operations Alice Toon | Facilities Administration Assistant Katy Redmond-Loose | Sustainability Projects Officer Tony O'Neill | Maintenance Assistant Shop and Box Office Sharon Wood | Retail Manager Suzanna Cheek | Shop Supervisor Priscilla Truman | Shop Supervisor TBC | Shop Supervisor Virgers Maddie Newbury | Head Virger (From July 2026) Rachael Oborne | Virger David Foster | Virger Serhii Kharchenko | Virger Michael Poobalan | Virger Mike Harding | Virger Volunteering Julia Cammack | Volunteers Manager Rachel Newland | Volunteers Administration Assistant Safeguarding Rebecca | Safeguarding Officer Alban Intern Jessica Hughes Children and Families Worker Elise Allanson
What can I do in the area? Expand The city of St Albans is brimming with remarkable history, fine food and drink, and a variety of events to suit everyone. The Cathedral's central location means that many of St Albans' top highlights are within easy, walk-able reach, including: St Albans Museum + Gallery The Clock Tower, the only medieval town belfry in England Verulamium Park St Albans Traditional Street Market (Wednesdays and Saturdays), dating back to the 9th century For more information about what's on in St Albans, please visit www.enjoystalbans.com. For more information about places to visit in Hertfordshire, please visit www.visitherts.co.uk. St Albans boasts excellent transport links and is a great base for visits to London. London St Pancras is a 20 minute train journey from St Albans City Station. The Abbey line from St Albans Abbey Station runs to Watford Junction where there is a bus link to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter. Photo credit: Dave Wood
Photography Expand St Albans Cathedral welcomes amateur photographers to take pictures and videos without a tripod both inside the building and throughout the grounds. Professional photography is by prior arrangement only. Please email [email protected] to find out more about professional photography, videography, filming and the associated fees. Drones are not permitted to fly in or around the Cathedral. Please read our Drone Policy for full details. Drone Policy 2025
Alan Hartwell Chief Operating Officer Expand Alan joined the Cathedral in 2024 having previously worked in many business and technical roles in the IT sector including COO of Capita Software and most recently CTO of Iris Software. Alan is a regular worshipper at the Cathedral, his favourite service is at 8am on a Sunday when it's still quiet before the bigger services begin, he is also a Cathedral Guide and very interested in the architecture, archaeology and history of both the Cathedral and the town of St Albans. Alan, his wife and two children have lived in and around St Albans for more than 25 years and having previously lived in north London is, of course, a dedicated Arsenal supporter. [email protected]
Why be a Chorister? Expand Cathedral choirs in the UK are the finest in the world, and no other nation has the same tradition of training children to sing in cathedrals. A St Albans chorister’s musical education is second to none, producing young people who are organised, focused, hard-working, and often with a lifelong love of music, not just choral music. Choristers enjoy a wealth of opportunities and experiences that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Not only do they benefit from some of the finest musical tuition available, they perform regularly on a par with professional adult musicians. Most of our choristers start at the beginning of year 4 and they all leave at the end of year 9. It’s definitely hard work, but it gives children many useful skills that will never leave them. Choristers often go on to become remarkably successful in a wide variety of fields due to the valuable arts of self-discipline, focus and organisation learnt ‘on the job’.