God in the Life of Gavin Oldham - from aircraft engineer to financial entrepreneur

Gavin Oldham at work at the share

He tells Jo Duckles about his journey from his early days on the shop floor of an aircraft engineering firm to becoming a successful entrepreneur and serving on Deanery, Diocesan and General Synods. WITH a grandfather and father who worked in the City, Gavin grew up not only in a Christian family, but one that taught him about the importance of savings and investments.

In his teens working on the shop floor of British Aircraft Corporation in the late 1960s, he had his first experience of colleagues who were reliant on this week's wages to pay the next week's expenses.

Generally this is a situation that has not changed, with 51 per cent of the UK population struggling with the cost of living. "My reaction was to think that there must be a way of making it easier for people to find economic freedom," says Gavin.

While the economic downturn of recent years has led to a general mistrust of those working in finance, Gavin seems to buck the trend, displaying an altruistic nature that began to develop in his 20s.

He established Nansen International Children's Centre, an Oxford-based charity then, which took children from deprived backgrounds on holidays in its double decker bus. When we met at the Aylesbury base of The Share Centre , the company Gavin founded in the early 1990s, we shared a coffee and he gave me a tour of the building.

Upstairs is The Share Foundation , which runs the Government's Junior ISA scheme, putting money into trust funds for young people in care.

Almost all UK local authorities have signed up, and Gavin is implementing a scheme to ensure the youngsters who receive the Junior ISAs have the opportunity to do basic literacy and numeracy courses and the Open University's Managing my Money course. "It's about breaking the cycle of deprivation and giving young people the chance to find and achieve their potential," says Gavin, who relishes the challenge of running large scale ventures that can benefit thousands of people at once. In his early 20s as Gavin's awareness of social deprivation was growing, he was inspired by the book Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Ste-Exupèry.

He was particularly struck by the epilogue, which tells of a peasant family with a child who could potentially go on to do anything but, due to the poverty into which he had been born, was most likely to end up following in his parents' footsteps and living as a peasant. Gavin saw parallels in British society.

"I was aware that when people own their own homes they take more responsibility for them.

There is a clear link between ownership and responsibility which extends into all aspects of everyday life. "After an unpromising start as an engineer, Gavin moved into Wedd Durlacher Mordaunt, a stock jobbing firm set up by his great-grandfather.

"I hadn't intended to go into the City: however it gave me an excellent background.

Wedds handled 40 per cent of London Stock Exchange turnover," says Gavin.

When Barclays acquired the business in 1986 Gavin set up Barclayshare, which is now Barclays Stockbrokers.

"It was a fantastic learning curve," he says, "and all part of bringing the opportunity to own part of - and be part responsible for - businesses to people from all walks of life. "In 1990 he left to set up his own company, The Share Centre.

Working long days all week for four to five years left Gavin in need of a break, and in 1995 he joined his wife at the Oxford Diocese's conference in Bognor Regis for some much needed inspiration.

Until now, despite a Christian upbringing, faith hadn't figured massively in Gavin's life. "The conference was such a tremendous experience that I felt not only at home but that this was something that added a tremendous amount to my understanding of life.

I decided I'd like to do a bit more for the Church," he says.

Gavin joined his Deanery Synod that year and canvassed for election to General Synod.

He was a Church Commissioner from 1998 to 2013, and set up the Church of England's Community Action website www. how2help. net in 2012. Previously Gavin had wrestled with Christianity on a personal level to reconcile the existence of good and evil with a loving God.

"A God who is playing games watching us struggle is not a God I understand at all," says Gavin.

"The more I listened and read the more I understood.

I found that piece in St John's first epistle that 'God is Love', and started thinking about the true meaning for creation.

If the nature of the conscious creator is unconditional love, it explains why the great laws that enabled creation to take place - gravity, light and time - are all framed in the image of that love. "St Paul talks of the groaning of creation.

He speaks of continuing creation, order being constructed against chaos and darkness.

At the frontier between order and chaos is where bad things happen not only in human terms but in natural ones, such as tsunamis and earthquakes. God is not creating the suffering but is alongside to help us handle it. "It's also easy to understand why God whose nature is love should experience that creation at first hand in the form of Jesus Christ, and why the essence of our faith is to open the sluice gates of our hearts and let it flow through us into everyone we meet. "Gavin's altruism and Christian values shape the vision for his company and inspire his work.

In 1987 he wrote a paper he sent to the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, on rebalancing wealth.

He suggested inheritance tax should be used to fuel the aspirations of disadvantaged young people and called for inter-generational rebalancing within the economy. In 2014 Gavin gave up his role as Chief Executive of The Share Centre and is now its chair.

With his newly released time, the entrepreneur set up Share Radio - a digital radio station that is now going from strength to strength. "That's what I've been up to for the last year.

I secured premises in Chapel Street, London, above Premier Christian Radio," says Gavin.

After enlisting the help of BBC-experienced radio experts and recruiting 25 staff to run the station, broadcasting began in late 2014. "It's early days and it will take a year or two to cover costs," says Gavin.

"We've signed an agreement with the Open University to broadcast their Managing My Money course, a very accessible eight week course which helps people to be more confident with handling money. "The station aims to provide information about the financial world in an accessible, entertaining way.

It's not specifically a Christian station, but Gavin's values, which underpin The Share Centre and The Share Foundation, are at its heart. Gavin worships at St Leonard's near Wendover.

He lives there with his wife Virginia and continues to serve on the Aylesbury Deanery Synod, Oxford Diocesan Synod and General Synod.

;