Meet the Team

Pastor
Ian Hilder

Ian took up the call to be our pastor on 1st September 2003, having previously served the church as an Elder for a number of years. Born in 1952 in London, Ian studied for his degree in biochemistry at Bristol University from 1971 to 1974, and a PGCE at Bath University in 1975.

He was brought up to go to church, but rebelled against Christian teaching. As a teenager, he was converted to Christianity when he became convinced that the Bible must be the Word of God. 

Ian taught chemistry at Richard Aldworth Comprehensive School, Basingstoke for 2 years, before returning to the West Country in 1977, where he taught at Churchill Community School until 2003. During this time he completed the Evangelical Movement of Wales training course at Bryntirion.

Ian is married to Hilary and together they have 6 children: Peter (1978), Abigail (1980), Paul (1981), Daniel (1984), Jonathan (1987) and Rebekah (1993). They also have 8 grandchildren.

Associate Pastor
Calix Furus

Calix and Bea are a Hungarian couple - though Calix is actually half Cuban. They have three children, Claudio, Tea and Ramon. They love the Lord, and live to express this love in different ways. Calix is a preacher and singer, and plays the guitar. Bea is very gifted with dealing with children: she is good at teaching them, and she has a beautiful voice, and also plays the guitar. They joined Copse Road Chapel in February 2011.

Deacons
Alan Saunders

Alan married Sue at Copse Road Chapel in 1970. They have 4 daughters and 12 grandchildren. Alan runs his own business repairing and selling domestic appliances and Sue works for the NHS as a technician in children’s audiology. They are both involved in various aspects of the work of the church; Alan in Fabric and Sue helps to run the Parent and Toddler group.

Dave Fox

Dave is married to Pauline and they have 2 children and 4 grandchildren. They have lived in the North Somerset area for 32 years. Dave has been a car body repairer since leaving school. One of his church responsibilities is Fabric. Pauline is a full-time housewife and “childminder” for her grandchildren. She is involved with crèche and helps occasionally with the Parent and Toddler group when needed.

Ben Phipps

Ben is married to Jude and they have 4 children. Ben is an optician working four days a week at the Bristol Eye Hospital and one day in Clevedon at D & A Opticians.

Alex Warren

Alex is an accountant working for a large company in Bristol. He has been at Copse Road Chapel since 1985. He is one of our musicians, co-leads one of the Home Bible Study groups and preaches from time to time. He is a leader of the Base youth group and supervises the Finance Team.

Andy Roberts

Andy has attended Copse Road since he was a child, he was baptised here, and has been a member since 2001. Andy is married to Jenny and together their responsibilities include working in the S-Club and the Base as part of the Copse Children’s and Youth Work. Andy is a member of the fabric team, and in particular he assists with the technical side of things (PA system, recordings, etc) which is one of his hobbies. Andy is an Electrical Engineer and Jenny is a Database Administrator.