Canterbury Cathedral trials free entry to precincts

CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL’s precincts are to be open for free for a trial period from now until 10 March. Before, adult visitors (aged 18 and above) had to pay an entry fee of £17. The fee will now be applied only for the cathedral building and areas including the Cloisters, Herb Garden, and Chapter House during standard sightseeing hours (9 a.m. to 9 p.m.). A notice from the Chapter this week said that the trial was intended “to test the feasibility of balancing free access to large parts of the Cathedral estate with our need to attract paying visitors in order to cover the substantial costs of running and maintaining this site and community. . . As always, it is free to attend a service of worship or to come into the Cathedral to pray.” canterbury-cathedral.org/free-precincts

Man pleads guilty to killing elderly churchwarden

A 36-YEAR-OLD man, David Parish, of Halyard Drive, Bridgwater, has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a former churchwarden, Beryl Purdy, who was 86, by reason of diminished responsibility. Anna Vigars KC, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court this week that psychiatric reports commissioned by the defence and the Crown had been received. Police were called to reports of a burglary at Mrs Purdy’s home in Broomfield, near Bridgwater, on 27 March last year. She was found seriously injured and died at the scene. Her family said in a statement: “Bez was a caring person who would help anyone in need and was very much part of the village, being a churchwarden for 20 years.” Mrs Purdy was churchwarden of St Mary and All Saints in Broomfield in the diocese of Bath and Wells.

Death announced of former Hymns A&M chairman

Patrick ColdstreamPATRICK COLDSTREAM, a former chairman of Hymns Ancient & Modern, the charity that owns the Church Times, died early on Sunday. He was 89. Mr Coldstream started as a features writer on The Financial Times, then worked in the City. He succeeded Bishop David Sheppard as chair of the CCBI inquiry that produced the report Unemployment and the Future of Work, in 1997 (News, 11 April 1997). He joined the board of Hymns Ancient & Modern, and succeeded the late Professor Henry Chadwick as chairman. His term came to an end in 2014. Obituary to follow

Questions ‘should have been asked’ about Vennells

AS THE official inquiry into the Horizon scandal continues, a Church of England spokesperson has commented on the involvement of the Revd Paula Vennells, the former chief executive of the Post Office, in various Church of England posts (News, 19 January). “It is clear that more questions should have been asked about the appropriateness of Paula Vennells’s involvement in various committees and working groups in the Church of England by 2019 and 2020, when more had come to light about the Horizon scandal,” the spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph on Saturday. “We recognise that and will need to reflect on that.”

Bristol community mourns stabbing victims

A CHURCH community in Knowle West, south Bristol, has expressed shock after two teenage boys were stabbed to death on Saturday night. The victims, who died in hospital, have been named locally as Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15. The Priest-in-Charge of St Barnabas’s, the Revd Clive Hamilton, said: “It is absolutely shocking, but I’m afraid this is the reality of life in many parts of Britain, not just Knowle West.” A statement on the church Facebook page read: “As we did pray this morning there is no faithful prayer that trivializes evil, no genuine faith that ignores the destructive powers of sin, and no true witness that turns a blind eye to the violence of our world.”

TRA bans former Wells Cathedral School teacher

A FORMER head of sports at Wells Cathedral School, Martin Swarfield, 46, has been barred from the profession indefinitely by the Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) after having sex with a pupil. In May 2017, the school undertook a safeguarding investigation; the next month, the pupil made a formal complaint, and Mr Swarfield was arrested at the school and suspended. In February 2018, after disciplinary meetings, he resigned. The TRA panel found that his actions were “calculated and sexually motivated”. The head teacher, Alastair Tighe, said that the TRA’s findings represented “a deplorable breach of expected standards and a total lack of integrity on the part of Mr Swarfield”.