Majors Andrew & Alison Stone
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It was being told that there were ‘plenty of girls and not many fellas’ that convinced Andrew to first go to the Army when he was 20 years old. On his first visit, he met a young lady called Alison who had grown up in the Army and had been the Singing Company member who would try to ‘adapt’ her uniform when going to the afternoon Sunday school at her home corps of Hove. Now – three children, eleven officer appointments and almost thirty years of marriage later – they have embarked on their latest adventure of presenting programmes on Fortress Radio.
When they met, Andrew was working in local radio and they hope that his involvement then and the experience they both have in corps leadership, will enable the programme to provide a sense of attending a traditional Army Holiness meeting for those unable to get to their local corps. |
Bandmaster Marc Harry
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Marc hosts the Salvation Meeting at 6:00 pm on Sunday evenings. He is a lifelong Salvationist and son of officers. He lives in Lincoln with his wife Sarah, his youngest son and two young daughters. Marc is currently Bandmaster at Lincoln Corps. He is well known as a euphonium soloist and also as a singer/songwriter and has written over 300 songs. For most of his adult life, Marc served at Portsmouth Citadel where he was pianist and keyboard player on many Songster recordings and soloist (euphonium & vocal) on many of the CDs made by the sections. He was Head of Music in Secondary schools for many years until ill health forced his early retirement and, since being unable to work, he has produced nearly 40 Podcasts under the name 'Going to the Army'.
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Major Keith White
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Major Keith is a retired officer and lifelong Salvationist who lives with his wife Faith in Telford, Shropshire. He has an associate role in Oakengates Corps, while Faith is the Corps Sergeant Major. They have a daughter, Joy who has a Music Masters degree and is a peripatetic brass teacher in West Sussex.
Keith grew up in Harlesden corps, North London where he enjoyed many years as a bandsman under the baton of Ray Bowes. He entered training college in 1971 where he played principal cornet for the Cadet’s band. Keith studied theology at Oxford Brookes University in his fifties. His main interests now are writing, music and preaching the word, whilst continuing to support the corps sections. During two stints of service, Keith has served as Corps Officer in many corps throughout the UK territory, including latterly St Albans, Maidenhead, and finally Hillingdon from where Keith and Faith retired in 2016. |
Majors Ian & Susan Woodgate
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Ian originates from Eastbourne and it was whilst a cadet that he met Susan Jewesson at Reading Lower Earley Corps. After her commissioning they were married and as Salvation Army Officers they have served in Corps and Divisional appointments in Berkshire, Kent, Surrey, Sussex and London. They have three children, Grace, Adam and Hope and together they currently worship at Penge Corps.
Ian and Susan are passionate about helping people of all generations to discover Jesus as Lord and Saviour, and for all to experience a deeper life in Christ. They enjoy time with friends and family, theatre, music and walking. |
Major Dr Malcolm Westwood
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Malcolm Westwood is a retired Salvation Army Officer. He has written the lyrics for several religious musicals and his songs are sung in a number of countries. He holds degrees in Theology and is a Church Growth consultant. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Management. His military service was in the Regimental Band of The Scots Guards and he holds a diploma in conducting. Married to Angela, they have two daughters, six grandchildren and one great grandson.
Malcolm is the founder of Veil Ministries, a web site originally designed for those unable to get to church and includes an international prayer group. Malcolm is also the President of the Order of Christian Encouragers. |
Stephen Poxon
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Stephen Poxon lives in Hertfordshire, England, and worships with The Salvation Army. He works as a freelance writer, specialising in anthologies of great Christian figures from history, including William & Catherine Booth. Married, with two adult children, he is now re-learning to play the cornet after an absence of forty years.
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Roger Herbert
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Roger Herbert originates from Brightlingsea in Essex and was a bandsman at Colchester Corps before meeting Mandy and transferring to Ipswich Citadel.
Married with a son, daughter and granddaughter he has always been a staunch follower of Salvation Army music and especially The International Staff Band. For the last fifteen years Roger has been a presenter for Hospital Radio Colchester where he is a member of the Football Commentary Team and presents a weekly Brass Band Programme. |
Megan Sass
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Megan is from the Rhondda Valley and is currently studying Welsh at Swansea University. She has worshiped at Pentre Salvation Army since being a child, but whilst at University, worships at Swansea Citadel. With a passion for the Welsh language and music, Megan hopes that the ‘Welsh on Wednesdays’ programme will be the perfect mix of Salvation Army music with a little Welsh twist. Megan enjoys singing and going to the theatre as well as spending time with family and friends.
Daw Megan o Gwm Rhondda, ac ar hyn o bryd mae’n fyfyrwraig ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe yn astudio gradd yn y Gymraeg. Mae Megan wedi addoli ym Myddin yr Iachawdwriaeth Pentre ers yn blentyn, ond tra yn y Brifysgol, mae hi’n addoli ym Myddin yr Iachawdwriaeth Abertawe. Mae ganddi angerdd dros yr iaith Gymraeg ac yn mwynhau cerddoriaeth ac felly mae hi’n gobeithio y bydd y rhaglen ‘Welsh on Wednesdays’ yn gyfuniad perffaith o’r ddwy elfen. Mae Megan yn mwynhau canu a mynd i’r theatr yn ogystal â threulio amser gyda’i theulu a’i ffrindiau. |
Reuben Dykes
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Reuben is a Salvationist inside and out, having grown up in the Army with officer parents. He is described as “Army barmy”, in fact, if you cut him open, he would bleed the Army colours: yellow, red and blue. Currently living in Skegness with his parents, Reuben soldiers at Skegness Corps, where he is responsible for the technical aspects of worship, as well as occasionally singing and acting in the meeting. Reuben can often be found performing onstage in musicals as well as playing percussion in the Band and singing in the Songsters at Boston Corps.
Reuben has Asperger’s Syndrome (Able Autism), but the support he has from friends and family are a real strength for him. With steam trains, the Titanic and football (Liverpool FC) among his interests and hobbies, it’s fair to say Reuben likes to enjoy life. He hopes that there will be something for everyone’s tastes within his programmes. |
Peter Leathem
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Peter lives in Bangor Northern Ireland and worships at the local corps; he is a fourth generation Salvationist and lives with his wife Sandra. Peter grew up in Lurgan Corps in County Armagh, where his father Joe was the bandmaster with the family transferring to Bangor Corps in 1974. Peter has two children: Stuart who is a Music teacher and Gemma who is a physiotherapist.
Currently, Peter is Band Sergeant of Bangor Band and previously held the positions of Songster Leader and Corps Cadet Guardian. In his teaching career, he was Head of Physical Education and then Associate Vice Principal of a prominent secondary school in Belfast. Peter played rugby and cricket both for Lurgan and Bangor before becoming an Ulster branch referee which lasted for 20 years. Now in retirement, he commentates at every home Ulster rugby game to facilitate blind and partially sighted spectators. His great pleasures in life are music and sport. |
Bandmaster Adrian Lyons
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Adrian grew up in Cornwall and joined first the YP Band and Singing Company and then the Senior Band at Falmouth Corps. In 1980, he moved to Colchester to attend the University of Essex and apart from a few months in Regent Hall Band, while doing his teacher training in London, he has been linked with Colchester Citadel. Adrian has been the Bandmaster for over 25 years; with his wife Jacqui, he is a member of the Songsters.
As an experienced concert organiser, Adrian has brought to the town of Colchester, a diverse range of groups from the ISB, ISS, The Three Sopranos to the Swingle Singers. He has worked with BBC Radio being listed as either Producer or Musical Director for BBC Essex and BBC Radio 2. In his professional life, Adrian was a school teacher for many years before becoming a Teacher Trainer. Since 2005, he has been one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors in Ofsted. His publications include textbooks and music. |
Stuart Garman
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Stuart is a 5th generation Salvationist from Portsmouth Citadel who transferred to Tottenham Citadel in 1971, the last bandsman to transfer to Tottenham before the move to Enfield. After playing solo cornet he moved to the soprano cornet where he gained an international reputation during the 1970s and 1980s. He has played with the ISB on several occasions including their tour of the Netherlands in 1977.
After moving to Bristol Easton in 1982, he became the YP Band Leader and took them on a tour to Ontario, Canada in 1991. On returning to London, Stuart became the Music Director of St Albans City Band leading them from the 3rd to the 1st Section of the National Brass Band Championships. Stuart is a Chartered Secretary by profession who became the Company Secretary for Nimbus Records and before retiring, the Secretary & Finance Director of the Royal Air Force Museum. Stuart and his wife Muriel, who is now the CSM at Enfield Citadel, have three sons and three grandchildren. |
Alvin Allison
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Growing up in Woking Corps, Alvin was influenced by some fine musicians including Bandmaster Roy Burton. As a teenager, he formed Blood & Fire with his brother; probably not the best but quite possibly the loudest and most dynamic rock band The Salvation Army has ever produced. Blood & Fire spent eight years on the road during which time they played at hundreds of venues and events. Their style of programme allowed them to reach new people attracting newspaper headlines such as ‘75 seekers in Penzance’ and ‘Blood & Fire sound empties the pubs’, attracting and moving the drinkers in to audience members.
The band disbanded in 1987 but Alvin went on to share his vast experience and skills by working with The Salvation Army assembling the first National Worship Band which performed at the Royal Albert Hall. He’s worked with Graham Kendrick, the Southern Youth Chorus and Salvacosta to name a few and his arrangements are credited on several albums from Songster Brigades to Worship Bands. |
Revd. Barbara Steadman-Allen
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Born Barbara Allen she became Steadman-Allen in 1959, when her father took his father’s second Christian name, Steadman. At the age of 12, she attended an Anglican boarding school and attended High Wycombe Corps on Sundays. She later became the Singing Company Leader at New Barnet and whilst attending university at Birmingham, where she joined the trombone section of the Citadel Band, she considered Officership.
Barbara comments: 'I didn’t suddenly become Anglican. There is a warmth about the Army which doesn’t lose sight of God for all its informality and spontaneity and which engages heart response as well as head, the emotions as well as the intellect. I embrace that. There is a spaciousness and majesty about Anglicanism at its best. I embrace that too. What really matters is that God is worshipped, and his word held high, that the name of Jesus is proclaimed, and that people come to faith in him. I have been grateful to Fortress Radio for allowing me to share my passion for the Bible.' |
Lieutenant Rob Westwood-Payne
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Rob is a lifelong Salvationist, having grown up at Norwich Citadel Corps. He was Songster Leader at Coventry City Corps for three years and then, having met his wife Gail, at Cradley Heath Corps for a further ten years. He was also Bandmaster for the last 7 years of his time at Cradley Heath.
For fifteen years he was a solicitor practising in Birmingham and the midlands, before hearing the call to Salvation Army officership again in 2009. In 2012, he became a Territorial Envoy, and corps officer at Hednesford Corps in the West Midlands. He became a distance learning Cadet in 2014, and was commissioned as a Joyful Intercessor in 2017. He is now the corps officer at Basingstoke in the Central South division. Rob is also dad to Harley the cocker spaniel, and an avid Norwich City supporter! |
Martyn Beecham
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Martyn is a soldier at Morley Corps in the Yorkshire North & Tees Division of the UK Territory. He has held a number of local officer appointments and currently leads the corps’ community vocal group ‘Boundless Voices.'
A former headteacher, Martyn is beginning to enjoy early retirement although has been actively involved in the corps’ on-line presence over the last 12 months. Martyn says: ‘I enjoy listening to Fortress Radio and am looking forward to making a contribution to the station’s programming.’ |
Major Chris Witts
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Chris was a radio announcer in a small country town. Coming from a Catholic background he joined the Army then God’s call to Officership interrupted his media plans entering the training college aged 19.
With his wife Laurel, they served in corps and THQ appointments for 42 years until retirement in 2013. The adventure of officership has taken many paths, but for Chris, radio has still been ‘in his blood’. In corps appointments he made contact with the local radio station and had unique opportunities to share the Gospel and tell the Army’s story. In 1996, Commissioner John Gowans ( Territorial Commander at the time) released Chris for four years to a seconded work as CEO of Australia’s first Christian radio station 2CBA FM now known as Hope Media. This experience gave him knowledge and new radio opportunities with many denominations participating. In retirement, Chris is still involved in radio. Radio 2MCR 100.3FM in Macarthur, Sydney and Fortress Radio. Chris says: ‘It’s a wonderful privilege to share the Christian faith with listeners via radio.' |
Peter Cooke
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Although he’s been a member of Upper Norwood Corps for 57 years, Peter Cooke was brought up in the William Booth Memorial Halls Corps, Nottingham. He still holds it in deep affection. He was also singing company leader at Twickenham for a time.
His Christian faith is a basic part of his personality, and for the last 60 years has been expressed in his articles, poetry and songs, as well as, he hopes, in his written Christmas and Easter greetings. Of his 50 or so published songs, his own favourite is ‘Of whom I sing’, with its lines ‘Had I a thousand lives to live, I’d live them In joyful service for my heavenly King’, which he says is the truest of them all. For 26 years he was a member of the Saint Martin Singers, whose inspired programmes of readings and music on Christian themes did much to nourish his love of choral music and poetry, and his Christian faith too. For 23 years he has been a member of the Bromley Temple Bible Study, for which group he has regularly prepared a programme for Holy Week of music and readings, an activity curtailed (only temporarily, he hopes) by the coronavirus pandemic. |
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
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General Brian Peddle International Headquarters
Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Territorial Commander Lieut-Colonel Jonathan Roberts Editor of the Salvationist Major Noel Wright Executive Officer ISB Lieut-Colonel Judith Payne Training Principal, William Booth College Major Donald Montgomery Sale Corps Commissioner Gillian Cotterill Territorial Leader Lieut-Colonel Marion Drew Retired Majors Ray & Pat Brown West Scotland Divisional Leaders |
Major Val Mylechreest Divisional Leader, South London
Lieutenant Daniel Holland Assistant Regional Officer for the Homelessness Services Unit Major John McLean Maidenhead Corps Majors David & Jane Alton Boscombe Corps Major Ian F. Payne Chatham Corps Major James Williams Chelsea, London Major Mike Lloyd-Jones Divisional Leaders, Central South Captain Deryk Durrant Aberystwyth Corps Lieut-Colonel Jayne Roberts Executve Offcier ISS |
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