General Synod Election Candidates 2026

General Synod Election Address 2026
Candidate: Dr Simon Eyre
St Elisabeths Church Eastbourne
General Synod member 2021-2026
Proposer: Carol Hyatt
St Simon and St Jude Church East Dean
Deanery Synod Member Eastbourne Deanery
Seconder: Christine Swanborough-Nilson
St Elisabeth’s Church Eastbourne
Deanery Synod Member Eastbourne Deanery

Dear Elector,
I am inviting you to prayerfully consider re-electing me as one of the Chichester Diocese Lay Representatives to General
Synod for a second five-year term. Over the past five years I have strived to faithfully represent the Diocese especially
attempting to view the business being debated from the perspective of our parishes and their PCCs.
My faith journey
I have been a Christian and an active member of an Anglican church for more than 50 years. I was a choirboy and
server in an Anglo-Catholic church until the age of 18. While at Cambridge I had a profound conversion experience in
a Conservative Evangelical setting followed some years later by a deep work of the Holy Spirit. From 1983-1985 Ann
and I served in Kenya with the inter-denominational Africa Inland Mission at Kapsowar Hospital. The parish I currently
worship in is described as Open Evangelical. Through that varied faith journey, I have experienced at first hand the
widely diverse nature of the Church of England
My time as a General Synod member 2021-2026
As a member of General Synod, I have very much sought to represent the “middle ground” of the Anglican Church and
I have tried to reflect the very varied membership of the Anglican parishes in our Diocese.
Central to our purpose as a church we are to make Jesus known in word and action in our communities. The driving
force behind this should be the combination of Biblical understanding together with the active presence of the Holy
Spirit in the lives of all within our churches so that we can be both compassionate and effective in reaching out to
those around us.
I have spoken numerous times at General Synod during debates on a wide range of topics. In the Clergy Conduct
Measure debate I argued for appropriate and properly funded legal representation for both parties involved in a
complaint, particularly for Clergy facing a public hearing. During the discussion of the Abuse Redress Measure my
intervention, together with that of others, has resulted in some mitigation of the potential impact on Parishes and
their PCCs with any parish contribution now being voluntary rather than mandatory, as had been proposed, and
limited to 25% of the redress payment rather than the total payment involved. Regarding the imposition of a faculty
regulation on parishes seeking to replace a gas boiler, while supporting the principal of a transfer to greener energy
sources, I tried to present to Synod the practical difficulties faced by a parish whose gas boiler breaks down in the
depth of winter where seeking a faculty would introduce a difficult and prolonged delay.
In July 2022 the Private Members Motion I introduced on Assisted Dying was debated with strong support for the
motion being expressed from all sides. I had passionately felt this was a matter for urgent discussion as it was clear
that a national debate would be imminent as has indeed occurred with the introduction of the Leadbeater Terminally
Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in Parliament, debate about which is still ongoing. My intention was that, as a Church, and
particularly our Bishops, we would be well prepared when the public debate took place. If you are interested in the
debate and my presentation to the Synod this can be viewed (from 7 minutes) at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lklfYJV5BE&list=PLccHT5Teqjp1ec4txRr-aScmulXWNeo&index=4
In the interests of transparency, over the issue of inclusivity, I firmly believe that all should be welcome in our churches
regardless of their ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity or LGBQTI+ status. However, throughout the debates in General
Synod on the introduction of Prayers of Love and Faith and Stand-alone services for same sex couples I have
consistently voted against their introduction. This has come from my settled understanding that they do not have a
biblical mandate and because of the major division that their use would cause within the Church of England and the
wider Anglican Communion.

Parish Role

For the last 24 years Ann and I have worshipped at St Elisabeth’s Church in Eastbourne. I served as the lay chair of our
Parochial Church Council for over 10 years, served on Deanery Synod, and have been a Churchwarden since 2020.
Over those last six years we have journeyed through a 14-month long interregnum and experienced subsequent
gradual steady growth not only in numbers but also in the deepening of people’s faith. Additionally, I have been an
Authorised Lay Minister since 2020 which has allowed me to participate in the preaching life of the Church. However,
I have always seen practical action as a vitally important demonstration of my faith and have been instrumental in
facilitating and taking part in Foodbank at St Elisabeth’s since 2014, a community café, and children’s work in the form
of Totz toddler group and Messy Church as part of our parish’s witness.
Personal Details
I am 72 years old and Ann and I have been married for 50 years. We have 4 children, all married, and 12 grandchildren.
We have lived in Eastbourne for nearly 40 years and I was a General Practice Principal in a partnership in Eastbourne
from 1987 until 2014. Prior that we had lived in Oxford, Newcastle, and Kenya. During the period from 2010 to 2018,
I periodically visited the Church of Uganda Hospital at Kagando as a visiting physician including during the violence
there in 2016. I have also frequently visited Uganda in my role as a Trustee for Esuubi since 2006.
Education
BA(Hons) 1976 Peterhouse Cambridge University
BM BCh 1979 Merton College Oxford University
Membership of the Royal College of Physicians 1981
Membership of the Royal College General Practitioners 1987
Fellowship of the Royal College General Practitioners 1994
Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians 2005
Professional Life
My working career was mainly spent serving a deprived area as a General Practitioner where I sought to treat all to
the highest standards with compassion and respect regardless of social background, race, and sexual orientation. My
work extended into a wide variety of other roles including being Chair of Eastbourne Downs Primary Care Trust’s
Professional Executive Committee, teaching and training General Practitioners, acting as an Appraiser, a Hospital
Practitioner in Radiotherapy and Oncology and nationally as an examiner for the Membership of the Royal College of
General Practitioners. I contributed to BBC Radio 4’s programme Medicine Now talking about the impact on my career
of working abroad and also to BBC’s Five Live programme in the immediate aftermath of the Harold Shipman
conviction. I believe all this has developed in me a wide range of abilities, particularly in listening, communication and
interpersonal skills, which I believe have helped me to be an effective and empathetic General Synod member over
the past five years. My professional role continued during the Covid pandemic through my work for the Covid Clinical
Assessment Service which was part of NHS 111 during which time, through over 1500 consultations, I gained a deep
insight into the pain, suffering and distress that many experienced during that time. In 2022 I retired from medical
practice and this has allowed me more time to focus on my Parish and Synod responsibilities.
Other posts and responsibilities
Trustee for Esuubi, a charity supporting children’s education in Mityana Uganda since 2006.
Trustee for The Eliza Martha Bell Rest Fund, which funds holidays for female missionaries and their families, for over
25 years.
National team member for the prayer ministry Wholeness Through Christ from 1994 to 2004.
Facilitator for PRIME courses in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2002 and Fort Portal, Uganda, in 2016.
I have had eight books published. Four are Naval History books including Surgeons of the Royal Navy in the First World
War and The Distinguished Service Medal 1914-1938 and also two books relating to the history of the St John
Ambulance Brigade. However, Let the Fruit Grow. A General Practitioner’s guide to the Holy Spirit is perhaps the book
I feel most passionate about with many kindly letting me know how it has touched their lives.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this address. I would love to talk to anyone who would like to raise
any issues or seek further clarification about my candidacy. Please pray for all involved in this process that the right
candidates are elected. If you feel able, I would be grateful for your first preference vote but above all please do vote.
I pledge that I will continue to do all that I can to faithfully seek to represent you at General Synod if re-elected.
Contact: Email: [email protected] Phone: 01323 411470 and 07706 791728

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