Next Dean of Hereford announced
THE next Dean of Hereford is to be the Canon Missioner of Peterborough Cathedral since 2018, the Revd Sarah Brown, it was announced on Wednesday. It is the first time that a woman has been appointed Dean in the diocese. Canon Brown, who previously worked in sales and marketing, came to faith in her twenties when she joined her church choir after the birth of her first daughter. She was ordained in Peterborough Cathedral in 2008 and began full-time parish ministry in 2011, in the Daventry Team Ministry. She has also served as Rural Dean of Daventry.
Bishop of Liverpool to retire in February
THE Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd Paul Bayes, announced his retirement in February 2022, on Tuesday. His farewell service is due to take place at Liverpool Cathedral on 12 February. Bishop Bayes, who is 68, served as Suffragan Bishop of Hertford in St Albans diocese from 2010 before his translation to Liverpool in 2014.
Story book teaches children finance skills
MILO’S MONEYMILO’S MONEY
THE Church Urban Fund and Just Finance Foundation (JFF) have created a colourful story book, Milo’s Money, to teach children skills in handling and saving money and preventing debt. The book has already been distributed free to 90 primary schools throughout the UK as part of a pilot scheme. It has been endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose vision for a fairer financial system led to the foundation of the JFF in 2013 (News, 30 May 2014). Archbishop Welby endorsed the book, saying: “Financial education should not only teach children how to spend and save, but how to approach the use of money with wisdom, generosity, justice, and thankfulness.”
NST announces review of Rochester appointment
THE National Safeguarding Team of the Church of England (NST) has initiated an independent lessons-learnt review of the recruitment and appointment a former director of music of Rochester Cathedral, William Scott Farrell, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment at Cambridge Crown Court in 2019 for a number of sexual offences, including those against children (News, 31 May 2019; 16 August 2019). The review, announced on Tuesday, is to be led by Chris Robson, currently the independent chair at Kingston and Richmond Youth Offending Strategic Board.
Choirmaster jailed for child-sex offences
A FORMER choirmaster, Mark Burgess, aged 67, of St Chad’s Avenue, Hilsea, Portsmouth, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court found him guilty of 27 counts of indecent assault, 14 counts of gross indecency with a child, four counts of buggery, two counts of sexual activity with a child, and one of attempted indecent assault. The offences took place between 1976 and 2009 during which time he was choirmaster of All Saints’, Portsmouth, and Westbourne Choir in West Sussex. Judge William Ashworth told Burgess, who denied the offences (News, 26 March), that he would spend at least 21 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
Paxton Festival relocates to avoid two-metre rule
THE Paxton Festival, an international chamber music festival which usually takes place in the Scottish Borders, has relocated its opening weekend (16 and 17 July) from Paxton House in Berwick-upon-Tweed to Berwick Parish Church across the border in England. This is to avoid the two-metre social distancing rules in Scotland, which will not be lifted until 19 July. In England, from 17 May, social distancing was reduced to one metre and social contact between friends and family was left to personal judgement. The Music at Paxton artistic director, Angus Smith, expressed his gratitude to “the Vicar, the Director of Music, and everyone at Berwick Parish Church for agreeing to host the opening concerts of our Festival at such short notice”.
Survivors’ champion honoured
THE founder of the survivors’ group MACSAS, Dr Margaret Kennedy, has been presented with the Langton Award for Community Service by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson. She received the award at St Patrick’s, Greystones, on Wednesday of last week as part of the Lambeth Awards given by the Archbishop of Canterbury to acknowledge contributions to the Church and wider society (News, 9 April).
HOLY TRINITY, PRESTWOODArboreal reminder: a memorial sculpture at Holy Trinity, Prestwood, in Buckinghamshire, designed and made by a local stonemason, Martin Cook. A central Tree of Life, on three panels, is flanked by four stones where the names and dates of people remembered in the churchyard are to be inscribed. The Rector, the Revd Deiniol Heywood, said that the churchyard where ashes were interred had become increasingly full, and the memorial was a “fitting and proper way for us to remember the people of Prestwood in the future”