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Wyn Evans © not advert
Wyn Evans

Africans seek climate compensation
A GROUP of African organisations is demanding compensation for climate change, Christian Aid said last week, at the end of the UN climate talks in Accra, Ghana. The civil-society groups are seeking funds from developed countries. “A serious and equitable response to climate change will require rich countries to pay billions in public funds to help poor countries develop in a sustainable, low-carbon manner. So why have the EU, which like to claim global leadership in the response to climate change, turned up with empty pockets?” said Nelson Muffuh, Christian Aid’s adviser to the talks.

Dean elevated

New suffragan: The Revd Adnrew Watson © not advert
New suffragan: The Revd Adnrew Watson

THE DEAN of St Davids, in Wales, the Very Revd Wyn Evans, was elected the new Bishop of the dio­cese on Monday, after the Electoral College, with repre­sentatives from all six Welsh dioceses, met in the Cathedral. Dean Evans, 61, who has been at the cathedral for 14 years, said he was stunned but honoured to have been elected in the diocese in which he had served since his ordination in 1971. The former Bishop, the Rt Revd Carl Cooper, resigned in May.

Art gallery fights indecency charge
THE BALTIC CENTRE for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, has pleaded not guilty to the charge of outraging public decency by displaying a statue of Christ display an erection, and has elected to go to trial at a Crown Court on 23 September. The case has been brought by Emily Mapfuwa in a private prosecution, backed by the Christian Legal Centre, after Northumbria Police concluded that there was no case to answer. The statue was part of an exhibition by Terence Koh.

Bishop of Carlisle announces retirement
THE Bishop of Carlisle, the Rt Revd Graham Dow, is to retire at the end of April 2009. Bishop Dow will celebrate the 40th anniversary of his ordina­tion to the priesthood in September. A farewell service will take place in Carlisle Cathedral on 28 March.


New suffragan
The next Bishop of Aston is to be the Revd Andrew Watson, Downing Street announced on Tuesday. The congregation of Mr Watson’s present church, St Stephen’s, East Twickenham, has grown to nearly 900 since he moved there in 1996. He is also Area Dean of Hampton, and the author of The Fourfold Leadership of Jesus (BRF). His wife, beverly, was ordained deacon this year. They have four children, and will live in the fromer rectory at Sutton Coldfield, now known as Bishop's Lodge. He will be consecrated in St Paul's Cathedral on 28 October.

Prison sentence for former rector
THE Revd Adrian Fereday, former Rector of Firbeck with Letwell, near Worksop, in Sheffield diocese, has been jailed for 12 months after being found guilty of downloading child pornography from the internet.

New Principal of Sarum College
Canon Keith Lamdin, director of training and evangelism in the diocese of Oxford since 1994, has been appointed the new Principal of Sarum College in Salisbury. He will take up the post on 1 December.

New term: new academies open
FIVE new Church of England academies opened this week: Bristol Cathedral Academy, which incorporates the former choir school; Oxford Academy; Samworth Church Academy, Mansfield; St Lawrence Academy, Scunthorpe; and Wren Academy, Barnet. It brings the total number of Anglican academies to 17. Fifteen further Anglican academies are being developed. Four new voluntary aided primary schools also opened.

Bishop of Salisbury is recovering well
THE Bishop of Salisbury, Dr David Stancliffe, is said to be making good progress after suffering a stroke in June (News, 27 June). The Bishop of Sherborne, the Rt Revd Tim Thornton, said Dr Stancliffe was now recuper­ating at home: “His wife, Sarah, and Bishop David are grateful for all the cards they have received and the prayers that so many people are saying.”

Muslim-owned church gutted by fire
THE Bishop of Lincoln, Dr John Saxbee, has played down speculation that a fire at the former St Matthew’s, in the Boultham area of the city, was started deliberately because the building was to be converted into a mosque. The Grade-II listed building was sold to the Lincoln Islamic Association in 2006. Police are still investigating the cause of the fire.


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