From the first step inside St Marks, it is obvious that this is a church that is full of wisdom on how to teach children about God and show them His ways. .

One of the major holders of that wisdom is Mary Williams. She is one of the reasons that St Marks is such an amazing place for families.

Mary dedicated her working life to teaching, and later to developing religious teaching resources for children.

Now, as one of the wardens, she has responsibility for the maintenance of the fabric of the church, and gives personal support for the clergy.

“The church wardens do some of the largely unseen work of the church,” she says.

Mary’s primary school teaching career began in Croydon, then she taught in Swaziland for four years and then in Wimbledon at Holy Trinity.

“I had done some work on the religious syllabus for the Merton schools, and was asked to go to work for the Diocese.” So began eighteen years as the Religious Education Adviser for the Southwark Diocese, advising teachers and governors in just under 100 Church of England primary schools across the Diocese.

“I missed teaching children, but the new work was very creative,” she says, “I wrote a lot of materials to support the teaching of RE and also every year I did services in the Southwark Cathedral for the children who were leaving year six. There were six services each June featuring drama, music, dancing and singing, involving hundreds of children.”

Another major lifework was helping set up the Southwark Cathedral Education Centre.

“It’s good to have the children come into a building that they might not otherwise visit,” she says, “They learn about the Cathedral’s role in London, south of the river. Historically, south of the river was less salubrious than the north – it was where all the brothels, public houses, prisons and theatres were situated!

“Southwark Cathedral was also where the pilgrims started on their journey to Canterbury.

“I love all that history. The Cathedral’s such an inspiring place – small enough to be intimate, yet it contains all the pomp and ceremony that makes Anglican worship so special.”

Mary is also Chair of Governors at the Priory Church of England School, in Queens Road Wimbledon. Naturally she has taken a special interest in religious education at the school – and its last Ofsted report into worship and RE was glowing.

As a mother of a child at the Priory, I used to love hearing the songs and prayers that my son had learnt that day. It was always full of joy.

Mary is also chair at the Religious Education Resource Centre in Croydon - CRERC.

As an RE Adviser, Mary served on the local standing advisory councils for religious education across the Diocese, cooperating with those of other faiths in making sure that a balanced RE curriculum was available in community schools.

One particular challenge Mary has seen in her time in religious education in south London has been the teaching about the culture and religious life of people from different faiths.

“It is so important to help children to live in harmony with their neighbours of whatever religious or secular persuasion,” she says, “One of the main objectives of religious education is to help schools to be harmonious communities where children are aware of their own faith and yet learn to respect the beliefs of others. Many of the world’s troubles are due to ignorance and intolerance. I think the way we teach RE today should enable people to live alongside others in a peaceful way.

Mary seems to thrive on big challenges!

“My personal faith is very important to me,” she says, “I have had a Christian upbringing and my work springs from that, but the faith of your parents is not enough, you have to make a decision that Christ is more than an inherited faith of your family. I have always been part of a church that believes in living out the faith through worshipping God by word and action.”

Mary is also a keen gardener, and in recent years has regularly visited Iceland to keep in contact with her two godchildren.

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