Who we are

The Chancellor is Mark Ockelton. Mark was appointed as Chancellor of the Diocese in September 2021, having previously been Deputy Chancellor from 2009. He is also the Chancellor of the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham.

Mark was called to the Bar of Lincoln’s Inn in 1977; he has degrees in Law and Theology. He spent the first half of his professional life as a university law teacher, before becoming a full-time judge in 1996. He is Vice President of the Upper Tribunal; he sits also as a judge of the Crown Court and of the High Court; and he has been closely involved in judicial training in the UK and many other countries.

Mark is a member of the Parish Clerks Company; he has long-standing interests in the architecture, fittings and furnishings of churches and particular expertise in bells and silver.

The Deputy Chancellor is His Honour Judge (Mark) Cawson KC. Mark was appointed as Deputy Chancellor of the Diocese in February 2024.

Mark was called to the Bar in 1982 and took Silk in 2001. He practised as a barrister in Manchester and London and sat as a Deputy High Court Judge until his appointment as a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge in the Business and Property Courts in Manchester in 2020.

Mark has had a long standing interest in Church affairs being actively involved in his local church, having served as a Church Warden and having been a Council member of Church Society between 2013 and 2020.

As Hereford Diocesan Registrar, Jeremy acts as  legal adviser to the Bishop of Hereford as well as providing a range of legal advice to the Diocese and to its clergy and parishes.

Jeremy attended Hereford Cathedral School and then read jurisprudence at Magdalen College, Oxford, where was subsequently appointed a Visiting Lecturer in law. He has for many years been a director in the local firm of Gabbs Solicitors, which has offices in Leominster and in Hay-on-Wye as well as in Hereford.

He has been involved in a number of regional charities over the years, including the Three Choirs Festival (of which he was Festival Chair on three occasions and then Festival Society Chair between 2015-2020). He was Under Sheriff for Herefordshire from 2011 -23.

Jeremy Wilding is a member of the Ecclesiastical Law Society, the Charity Law Association and the Selden Society (the only society devoted exclusively to the study and promotion of English Legal History). He is a trustee of several charities, including the Herefordshire Community Foundation. 

In 2016 he was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Windsor Castle.

E: jwilding@gabbs.biz | T: 01432 353 481

Rachael is an Associate Solicitor with Gabbs Solicitors based at the Leominster office specialising in Agricultural and Residential Property. She has over 25 years of experience advising thousands of clients during her career on:

• Freehold and leasehold residential sale and purchase transactions (registered and unregistered land)
• Sales and purchases of agricultural land – advising clients on Basic Payment Scheme provisions and environmental agreements
• Shared ownership
• Help to buy sales and purchases
• New build purchases
• Sale of development land
• Purchase of development land to include site set up and plot sales off
• Deeds of easement; variations to / release easements
• Deeds of covenant
• S106 Agreements

Rachael qualified as a solicitor in 1996 after completing her degree at Manchester Metropolitan University and Legal Practice Course at the University of Wolverhampton. Rachael trained in the West Midlands and after qualifying worked in Herefordshire for a short time before joining a Shropshire firm where she was a partner for over 15 years.  Rachael obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Legal Practice Management with Merit in 2015 from the Manchester Metropolitan University.

Married to a South Shropshire farmer, Rachael is well versed in dealing with the Rural Payments Agency as she helps out on the farm at home. In the little spare time she has, Rachael also enjoys gardening, cooking for friends and family on her AGA, reading and walking her rescue Westie/ Patterdale cross terrier Trixie.

E: rhughes@gabbs.biz | T: 01568 616 333

Melanie is one of the Directors at Gabbs Solicitors and has over 20 years’ experience in property work.

She has a degree in history from the University of Lancaster and completed her legal training at the College of Law in London.  Her Articles were carried out in a small firm in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London and she qualified as a solicitor in 1994.  She worked in the Commercial Property department of Farrer & Co until she moved to Herefordshire in 2004.

Melanie has been at Gabbs since 2009, becoming a Director in 2017.  She works from our Hay on Wye office where she deals with all types of property matters including residential and commercial properties.

Outside the office Melanie is Clerk to the Governors of Eardisley Primary School.

E: mtree@gabbs.biz | T: 01432 353 481