David
ToppingI was born in Mount Street Hospital in 1946 and have lived all my life in Preston, being very proud to be a Freeman of the City.
I started my church upbringing at Emmanuel church, moving to Broughton St. John's, before arriving here at Fulwood in 1983.
My formal education started at Roebuck St primary then at Broughton C.P. school with my secondary education at Queen Elizabeth's at Blackburn.
Leaving school, I chose to enter the family business (in 1963) of wholesale footware. In the '70s we diversified and eventually specialised in tea and coffee, importing and blending, and I am still there, blending nicely.
I have responsibilities for four children:
I am proud to have raised my family as a single parent and hope, one day, to spend time sorting out my own life.
I am privileged
to be asked to become a Steward. I am originally from the West End of Glasgow
where I trained to become a medical secretary. I moved with my husband, Alan,
20 years ago to Huddersfield, where we lived and worked for 4 years. We moved
to Preston in 1987 when I was expecting Andrew (he was a Sharoe Green baby!).
I have worked with Preston Health Authority, the FHSA
and have also run my own secretarial business. I now work with Alan in the Health
and Nutrition Industry, working from home, helping people with weight management
and optimum nutrition. We live in The Pennines in Fulwood. Andrew is now 14
years old and attends Lancaster Royal Grammar School. I look forward to serving
my stewardship, with some trepidation, and hope I can live up to the work undertaken
by my predecessors.
In May this year
I was appointed to a second term as a Church Steward at Fulwood. My first stint
was in the mid '80s under the reign of Geoffrey Warburton when I served
with the likes of Ray Armstrong, Hilda Porter, Kathleen Speight, Ron Black and
Fred Rowland (in those days we coped with 4 Stewards at a time!) I owe a lot
to Geoffrey for asking me to be a Steward because it was whilst on duty on a
Sunday evening in July 1986 that I met my future wife Gillian ‰ I offered her
a Polo mint during the sermon and we've never looked back. Our family is now
complete and we have three children Ben (11), Rachel (8) and Bethany (2) and,
if you hadn't noticed, we sit on the front row by the Worship Band.
I have worshipped at Fulwood all my life and have seen many changes over the years. I feel honoured that I have been given the opportunity to serve again in this capacity and look forward to the exciting and challenging time ahead as we strive to further our witness in the Community.
© Fulwood Methodist Church
16:40:28 Wednesday, 26 October 2005
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