Local News

The death of Lady Runcie, widow of the late Lord Runcie, former Archbishop of Canterbury and former Bishop of this Diocese has been announced.

The Revd Christopher Futcher, Rector of St Nicholas’, Harpenden, for 11 years has been appointed Archdeacon of Exeter.

The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith has used his Christmas message to the people of St Albans Diocese to call for everyone, of all faiths and none, to actively demonstrate peace and goodwill to others this Christmas.

The Diocese of St Albans has not received any proposals for a touring camp to visit St Albans Cathedral and has no response to make about any such proposal at this time.

In response to AIDS as ‘forgotten but not gone,’ an exhibition to raise awareness of HIV / AIDS and the needs of sufferers takes place at St Albans Cathedral from 29^th November to 4^th December.

Nearly five terms after the pupils moved in, St Mary’s High School,Cheshunt, was formally opened thanks to a Royal visit from HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO on 8th November.

With one year to go to the Paralympics and less than one year to the Olympic games, the Bishop of Hertford and the Archdeacon of St Albans have travelled the 300m long, 5.5m descent of the Lee Valley White Water centre Olympic course in a raft to demonstrate that everyone can get ‘stuck in’ to the Olympics.

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The Bishop of St Albans, the Right Revd Dr Alan Smith; led clergy and faith community leaders in Luton, in expressing relief that there had been no civil disruption in Luton.

The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith, has launched an appeal for the people of the Poipet region of Cambodia, who are still recovering from the effects of Pol Pot’s regime in the 1970s. He has chosen projects run by relief agency Tearfund in partnership with CHO, the Cambodian Hope Organisation, as beneficiaries of his 2011 Harvest Appeal.

An outstanding Bedfordshire middle school, Alban Middle School has thwarted the threat of closure within two years, and opened on Friday April 1^st as the Church of England’s second academy under the 2010 Academies Act to open in the East of England.

Ian Pearce, known to many in the diocese through the Sunday morning BBC Three Counties religious programme Melting Pot, has died.

An Appreciation of Bishop Ken Pillar RIP

Eighty pupils from ten primary schools in Hertfordshire, supported by twenty older pupils from Townsend School, St Albans, spent a day of creative, imaginative and even argumentative learning in St Albans Cathedral onThursday, 10 March courtesy of St Albans Education Centre.

The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith, has described the mood in Luton ahead of the English Defence League demonstration on 5th February as “deeply anxious”.

The Queen has approved the appointment of the Sub Dean of St Albans Cathedral, Canon Stephen Lake, as the 37^th Dean of Gloucester, 10 Downing Street has announced. He succeeds The Very Revd Nicholas Bury, who retired from Gloucester Cathedral in October 2010.

St Albans Cathedral

I am ashamed to say that I was not much good at science when I was at school. I found the whole thing rather puzzling. For me science is best summed up in a definition I heard recently:

Canon David Cheetham, the Bishop’s Legal Secretary and Diocesan Registrar, will retire on 3rd August 2011 after thirty-three years’ exceptional service to the Diocese.

The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Alan Smith, uses his Christmas sermon in St Albans Cathedral to speak of the inspiring beauty of Christ’s vulnerable love, telling of Christ ‘pitching his tent’ among us.

He continues, speaking of the unrest brought by forces that seek to divide society such as racism and terrorism, he goes on to warn that “such open, vulnerable love is no panacea. It challenges us and our world. And sometimes it provokes the powers of evil to fight back, which was why at the end of his short life this vulnerable baby would be hung on a cross”.

The Bishop of Bedford, the Rt Revd Richard Inwood, was delighted to hear news of the ending of children’s detention at Yarl’s Wood detention centre, Bedfordshire, as a welcome act of compassion.

With only a few shopping days left to Christmas, don’t feel inadequate if your Christmas budget has shrunk this year. Retailers may be worried that spending could drop from £11 billion to £9 billion, but remember that among the presents which best embody the Christmas spirit are inexpensive oranges and chocolate coins in children’s Christmas stockings.