Latest News
St Paul’s Church, Bedford is awarded ‘Major Parish Church’ status
18th September 2019
St Paul’s church in the centre of Bedford is celebrating its award as a Major Parish Church and being granted membership of the Major Churches Network, in recognition of its importance to the town. The Major Churches Network is a body set up by the Church of England which comprises 350 of the largest and… Read more »
The Archdeacon of Bedford’s Walking Pilgrimage of Bedfordshire
15th September 2019
Click here to hear Archdeacon Dave talking to Mike Naylor on BBC Three Counties about what an Archdeacon does and what he has learnt from his recent walking pilgrimage of Bedfordshire. An excellent interview, well worth a listen! The new Archdeacon of Bedford, the Ven Dave Middlebrook led a walking pilgrimage of the six deaneries in… Read more »
£20,000 National Churches Trust grants for two churches
12th September 2019
St Mary’s Church, Reed in Hertfordshire and St Edmund or St James, Blunham are each being granted £10,000 from the National Churches Trust, two among 48 churches sharing a total of £290,000 in grants. St Mary’s, Reed (pictured above) dates from the early 11th Century, making it among the oldest in the diocese. According to… Read more »
Six new Readers for the Diocese of St Albans
12th September 2019
The following Readers were Admitted and Licensed by the Bishop of Bedford on 7th July 2019 at St Albans Cathedral: Ruth Gray to All Saints’, Clifton and Southill Lindsay Hall to Chellington Team Sarah Ibrahim to All Saints’, Bedford Hilary Pask to Harpenden (St. Mary’s) Mary Rathbone to Bishop’s Hatfield Team Julie Taylor to… Read more »
St Albans Cathedral Space Voyage: 28th October to 1st November
11th September 2019
Take a journey to the moon and stars this autumn with a spectacular space themed Son-et-Lumiere at St Albans Cathedral in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo Moon Landing. This October visitors to St Albans Cathedral will have the chance to travel out of this world, walk amongst the stars and take ‘one… Read more »
Archdeacon of St Albans to retire in 2020
10th September 2019
Archdeacon of St Albans to retire in early 2020 10/09/19 After almost 12 years in post, the Archdeacon of St Albans has announced that he will retire in early 2020. His retirement will fall in his fortieth year of ordained ministry. This has included serving in rural North Bedfordshire, suburban Hertfordshire and in chaplaincy to… Read more »
Canon David Cheetham RIP
6th September 2019
St Albans Diocese has learned with great sadness of the sudden and unexpected death, on 5th September 2019, of Canon (Emeritus) David Cheetham, Diocesan Registrar and Bishop’s Legal Adviser from 1978 to 2011. The Bishop of St Albans led tributes to David: “David was an excellent Registrar and servant of the diocese. His deep Christian… Read more »
Starting Rite course for babies at Christ Church Bedford
1st September 2019
Becky Guynn, Children’s Minister, Christ Church Bedford writes about the launch of ‘Starting Rite’, a course for babies and their carers “We ran the Starting Rite course as part of the re-launch of our under 1’s group, Little Fishes (we had to take a break from running the group during the building works of our… Read more »
Diocese of St Albans Ordinations 2019
17th July 2019
On Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th June, 17 priests and 14 deacons were ordained at St Albans Cathedral. They will serve in parishes across the diocese. Photo galleries from the two ordination services are now online: Ordination of Priests: Saturday 29th June 2019 Ordination of Deacons: Sunday 30th June 2019 Below are details of the… Read more »
Free Social Media Surgery Sessions for Parishes
17th July 2019
As a follow-up to the Social Media training courses earlier this year, we are offering parishes a free one-hour ‘surgery’ session with a member of our Communications team. The session will give you whatever help you need to get started or make the most of your parish social media accounts. Perhaps you would like help… Read more »