Russian flag draped from Salisbury Cathedral
A RUSSIAN flag that appeared on scaffolding at Salisbury Cathedral last Saturday night has been removed. In view of last year’s poisoning episode in the city, after which two Russian men were named as suspects, the Dean of Salisbury, the Very Revd Nicholas Papadopulos, said: “This was a remarkably stupid thing to do and makes light of the huge personal tragedies involved, and the damage done to the city by the unprecedented nerve-agent attacks on Salisbury last year.”
BHP statement on dam safety welcomed
THE Church of England Pensions Board and a group of investors with assets worth £3 trillion in total have welcomed Tuesday’s statement on dam safety from the chief executive of the multi-national mining company BHP, Andrew Mackenzie. He said that the industry must “redouble its efforts” to ensure no repeat of last month’s disaster at Vale’s Córrego do Feijão iron-ore mine (News, 8 February). The Pensions Board’s director of ethics and engagement, Adam Matthews, said: “Communities, workers, banks, and investors need the assurance that best practice will become the new minimum requirement across the mining sector.”
Memorial service for Canon Michael Green next month
A THANKSGIVING service for the life of the evangelist Canon Michael Green (News and Gazette, 15 February) will be held in Coventry Cathedral next month. The date will be announced shortly. His funeral — which it is requested that only those who knew him personally attend — is to be in St Aldate’s, Oxford, on Saturday 2 March at 10 a.m.
Earlier time for Songs of Praise
SONGS OF PRAISE is now to be broadcast regularly at 1.15 p.m. on Sundays, and is not returning to the early evening. A BBC spokesperson said: “Songs of Praise has moved to a new time on Sundays to ensure consistency in scheduling, make it easier to find for viewers, and to avoid the programme being displaced by sporting events, which can often overrun.”
Dean Lewis, who died this week, aged 71Former Dean of Llandaff dies
A FORMER Dean of Llandaff, the Very Revd John Lewis, died this week, aged 71. He was Dean from 2000 to 2012. Ordained in 1973, he was Vicar of St David’s Brecon, with Llanspyddid and Llanilltyd from 1985 to 1991, and Vicar and then Team Rector of Bassaleg from 1991 until 2000.
Award given for work with other faiths
THE Revd Graham Burton, a former Priest-in-Charge of Hyson Green, in Nottingham, has been awarded the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The award recognises his reconciliation work in Pakistan and this country, together with that of his wife, Dr Gillian Burton. He said: “What I have tried to do in the 47 years since I was ordained is, on the one hand, to be faithful to Jesus Christ, and, at the same time, take seriously that we are called to incarnate or live the gospel in a multicultural, multi-ethnic and multifaith society.”
C of E abuse survivors lobby Synod members
A GROUP of sexual-abuse survivors have launched a booklet, We Asked for Bread but You Gave us Stones, to be given to all General Synod members. They argue that for all the talk, the Church is no further forward in addressing the needs of victims. In the introduction, Andrew Graystone writes: “The Church of England has chosen to take a lawyer-led, money-driven approach to survivors of abuse. Say as little as possible; spend as little possible; keep it in the family.”
Musician jailed for 12 years for sex offences
A FREELANCE choirmaster, music teacher, and organist, Andrew Wilson, 57, of Norwood Way, Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court last Friday to 12 years’ imprisonment, after being found guilty of 19 offences against boys in Sussex, London, and Germany, including 16 offences against a total of three boys aged between nine and 14. He was choirmaster at St Margaret’s, Warnham, and St Margaret’s, Beddington, when the offences took place. Detective Constable Gemma Nickols, of the Sussex Police Complex Abuse Unit, said that he was “well known in the world of all-male choirs and choral music”, and had groomed boys who sang in his choirs.