Medieval church frescoes to be restored after grant
CONSERVATION work is ready to start on Twelfth- and 14th-century church frescoes that were revealed after an arson attack in 1979, it’s reported. Restoration work at St Mary Magdalene’s, Ickleton, near Cambridge, is on account of 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 vital complete Passion cycles in England and have been described by Historic England as “outstanding”.
Search for Interim Bishop of Bangor to proceed
INTERVIEWS for an Interim Bishop of Bangor haven’t resulted in an appointment, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Cherry Vann, has said. “Any strategy of discernment needs to be open to an end result that it will not be right to proceed in the way in which we hoped. This is what has happened on this occasion and so we won’t 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 four-hundredth 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 best of all English lutenists, lute-music and lute-song composers, was buried on twentieth February 1626 within the parish of St Ann Blackfriars, where [like Shakespeare] he had lived and worked. When St Ann was destroyed within 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 continues to be possible to go to. 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 recollect Dowland, and we follow his example in searching for to praise God with lute and harp, because the Psalmist urges in Psalm 150.”
Priest rebuked after drink-driving conviction
A PRIEST within the diocese of Lincoln, the Revd Dr Simon 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 automotive of the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Revd Stephen Conway (News, 28 November, 2025). Dr Carew worked for ten years at Church House, Westminster, within 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 considered one of his former pupils at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel found that had exchanged social-media messages with the previous pupil, had been to a pub along 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 press release issued by the diocese of Lichfield, on behalf of the parish, said that Mr Stockton had not worked within 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 latest partnership that may 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 beginning of an exciting latest chapter within the Church Music Society’s history and mission, enabling the Society to attract on the RSCM’s unrivalled expertise in church music publishing.”
