Ministry & Mission - Clergy

Vicar of St Matthew's

The Revd Canon Nicholas Setterfield

The Revd Canon Nicholas Setterfield

Nicholas spent his formative years in and around Folkestone, Kent. The circumstances of his birth, in Hythe, were particularly fraught due to the exceptional snowfall of 1963.

After schooling in Sandgate, Saltwood and Tonbridge, Nicholas initially studied electrical engineering before reading for a degree in music and working as a research assistant at The British Museum. His dissertation concerned the life and works of the English composer and organist Samuel Wesley 1766-1837, the son of the methodist and hymn writer Charles Wesley, and father to Samuel Sebastian Wesley, the well-known church musician. Nicholas produced the first edition of Wesley's Violin Concertos which has been used as the basis for subsequent recordings. These days he is a lapsed pianist and organist, and is content listening to the more significant gifts of other practitioners. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Around this time, Nicholas began to discern a vocation to the ministerial priesthood. It was a process rather than an event. He trained at St  Stephen's House, Oxford 1989-1992. During this time he married Helen Bartholomew and became the first ordinand to be married at the Church of St John the Evangelist, Iffley Road, Oxford whilst at 'the House'. Helen is a primary school teacher, and they have three adult children, Eleanor, Adam, and Hugh, a learning disabilities nurse, a computer wiz, and a cathedral stonemason.

Nicholas was ordained deacon in 1992 and priest the following year at Gloucester Cathedral. After the latter service, wearing factory seconds shoes, he was informed that whilst kneeling before the bishop a sticker on one sole reading "discontinued" was clearly visible! He served his title as Assistant Curate within the Parish of Prestbury, Cheltenham 1992-1996 which included Cheltenham Racecourse.

In 1996, Nicholas was appointed Rector of Letchworth, the First Garden City. The 'mother' church was a small, sweet 12th century building with a pre-Reformation bell, and the parish church a 1960's octagonal structure with a central stone altar and topped out with a lantern. The short journey between these two architecturally different houses of prayer took in the world's first road roundabout, domestic swimming pools, and a small estate with some of the most marked deprivation in the county. The local church was challenged to respond as the Anglican presence responsible for all. Their two sons were born in the rectory.

Nicholas has been privileged to serve as Vicar of St Matthew's since 2003. He has taken forward the on-going renewal of the parish in ministry and mission, its worship, fabric, and witness to the community it is called to serve. The well known music and artistic tradition of former times has been re-established. In 2017 he was made a Canon of Peterborough.

Nicholas' ministerial life is rooted and nourished within the catholic tradition of the Church of England. A traditionalist, though contemporary in expression, he remains fundamentally positive about his sense of vocation. The life of prayer and the efficacy of sacramental worship are foundational to his relationship with God, self-understanding, and priestly ministry. Nicholas feels he has received more than he could possibly repay, often through life-enriching everyday interactions with fellow travellers, as together we seek to make Christ known and loved, and joyfully grow God's kingdom in this part of Northampton.

Assistant Priest

The Revd Canon Nicholas Gandy OGS

The Revd Canon Nicholas Gandy OGS

Nicholas was born in the Teesdale Market Town of Barnard Castle, but spent most of his childhood in Essex. At the age of six, he declared he wanted to be a priest when he grew up. The gift of a microscope at the age of twelve inspired a passion for the life sciences.

In the years that followed, he studied at three universities gaining a first degree in Biological Sciences, a Masters in Virology and a teaching qualification. Following a two year research contract funded by the Medical Research Council, he taught Biology at Aylesbury Grammar School for seven years before finally offering himself for selection as a candidate for ordination. Having been blessed with an insight into the wonder of life from a biological perspective, it was a joy to say 'yes' to the meaning of life that God was revealing to him in the call of Jesus.

Nicholas trained at St Stephen's House Oxford and was ordained deacon in 1988 and priest in 1989. He served two curacies in Berkshire during which time he was appointed Deputy Chaplain of Reading Prison. In 1993 he became incumbent of St Peter's Dicot ('The Railway Man's Church') where he served for almost ten years. In 2003 he was appointed (50th) Vicar of Brackley in the Peterborough Diocese where he served for exactly fifteen years; retiring from full-time parochial responsibility three days after his 65th birthday. After moving to Northampton he was delighted to join the community of St Matthews Northampton as Hon Assistant Priest.

In 1996 Nicholas was professed as a Brother of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd (OGS), a dispersed Anglican Religious Community with members in Europe, Australia, South African and North America. In 2005 he completed a three year training in Ignatian Spirituality at the London Centre for Spiritual Direction and has been involved in that ministry ever since.

On retirement from full-time parish responsibility, the Bishop appointed Nicholas as Diocesan Adviser for Pastoral Care and Counselling - a confidential role in which he is able to advise/arrange for different kinds of support for clergy and members of their families.

Nicholas has a younger brother and sister-in-law living in Milton Keynes.

Nicholas enjoys cooking, cycling (on an e-bike!) wine, Italian Renaissance art, listening to music and occasional visits to the theatre. He is a Member of the Royal Society of Biology, a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London.

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