Medieval church frescoes to be restored after grant
CONSERVATION work is set to begin on 12th- and 14th-century church frescoes that were revealed after an arson attack in 1979, it is reported. Restoration work at St Mary Magdalene’s, Ickleton, near Cambridge, is due to start after the church was awarded £244,684 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support the preservation of the paintings. They include one of the most complete Passion cycles in England and have been described by Historic England as “outstanding”.
Search for Interim Bishop of Bangor to continue
INTERVIEWS for an Interim Bishop of Bangor have not resulted in an appointment, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Cherry Vann, has said. “Any process of discernment has to be open to an outcome that it is not right to proceed in the way we hoped. This is what has happened on this occasion and so we will not be proceeding with the appointment of an interim bishop,” she wrote in a message to the diocese this week. She has asked the Governing Body’s Standing Committee to restart the Electoral College process.
Lutenists commemorate John Dowland
ST ANDREW-BY-THE-WARDROBE, London, marked the 400th anniversary of the burial of John Dowland, the lutenist and composer, by holding a special service of thanksgiving last Friday. It was organised in collaboration with the National Lute Society, whose chair, Sarah Shepley, said: “John Dowland, the greatest of all English lutenists, lute-music and lute-song composers, was buried on 20th February 1626 in the parish of St Ann Blackfriars, where [like Shakespeare] he had lived and worked. When St Ann was destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666, the grave site was lost; its site is believed to be somewhere in or near the Ireland Yard churchyard, which it is still possible to visit. After the Great Fire, St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe took over the parochial obligations of St Ann Blackfriars.” The Rector of St Andrew’s, the Ven. Luke Miller, said: “We are proud to remember Dowland, and we follow his example in seeking to praise God with lute and harp, as the Psalmist urges in Psalm 150.”
Priest rebuked after drink-driving conviction
A PRIEST in the diocese of Lincoln, the Revd Dr Sion Hughes Carew, has been rebuked over conduct unbecoming and inappropriate to the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders, after being convicted of a drink-driving offence in an incident when he crashed the car of the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Revd Stephen Conway (News, 28 November, 2025). Dr Carew worked for ten years at Church House, Westminster, in the Legal Office and elsewhere. Ordained priest in 2022, he became Vicar of All Saints’, Lincoln, and Priest-in-Charge of St Mary-le-Wigford, Lincoln, last February.
Parish suspends director of music over relationship
ST PETER’s, Wolverhampton, has suspended its director of music, Louis Stockton, 32, after he was banned from teaching over a relationship with one of his former pupils at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel found that had exchanged social-media messages with the former pupil, had been to a pub with her, and had shared a bed at her university accommodation on separate occasions when she was 18, in 2023. None of the complaints related to his post at St Peter’s. A statement issued by the diocese of Lichfield, on behalf of the parish, said that Mr Stockton had not worked in the parish since its PCC learnt of the Teachers Regulation Agency’s adjudication.
RSCM and Church Music Society team up
THE Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) and the Church Music Society (CMS) have announced a new partnership that will mean that the RSCM becomes the exclusive publisher of all CMS titles. Founded in 1906, the CMS has previously published works through Oxford University Press. The society’s chairman, Professor Patrick Russill, said: “The partnership with the RSCM is the start of an exciting new chapter in the Church Music Society’s history and mission, enabling the Society to draw on the RSCM’s unrivalled expertise in church music publishing.”