Nine new canons are to be collated and installed at a service of Evensong to be held in Lincoln Cathedral on Saturday, 3rd February 2018 at 5.30pm. At the same service, the Revd Dr Paul Overend will be installed as Chancellor of Lincoln, and all are welcome to attend.

Looking ahead to the collation and installation of the new canons, the Rt Revd Christopher Lowson, Bishop of Lincoln, has said: “I am delighted to be able to acknowledge the contribution that these people have made to the life of our diocese, greater Lincolnshire and beyond. I know that their individual gifts and experience will help to further the ministry that is offered through our cathedral to the whole diocese, and I look forward to celebrating with them at what will be a very special occasion in February.”

The new canons will be:

The Revd Philip Brent
Philip has been Rector of Market Deeping for almost 15 years, and he is currently in his fifth year as Rural Dean of Elloe West and his second year on the Lincoln Cathedral Council. He was a member of The Diocesan Board of Education for 12 years, and Church schools and children’s work remain a major passion in his ministry. Philip is married to Candace and has a son, Aidan, and a daughter, Lara. He is a lifelong supporter of Chelsea Football Club and still attends matches several times a year with his father and Aidan. He is passionate about pilgrimage as a means of spiritual growth and mission, and he spent time studying and experiencing pilgrimage during this past year. Philip feels immensely proud to be asked to be a canon of Lincoln Cathedral, a place where his late mother worked in the shop for many years. He is very honoured by this appointment.

The Revd Edward Bowes-Smith
Edward has served in the Diocese of Lincoln since 2003, initially in the Lincoln Minster Group. Based at St Peter in Eastgate Church, he oversaw the establishment of the St Peter in the Pub Mission Initiative on newly built housing estates on the north-east edge of Lincoln and the diocese’s first Bishop’s Mission Order. Now based in a school, in April this Mission Initiative became the new parish of St Peter in Carlton, the first new parish in the diocese for over 50 years. On becoming a canon, Edward writes: “As part of the cathedral is located in St Peter in Eastgate parish, I see the cathedral almost every day. I look forward to being part of the College of Canons and strengthening the links between parishes and the cathedral.”

The Revd Dr Neil Burgess
Neil’s first degree was from Lampeter and this was followed by ordination training in Llandaff, after which he was ordained in Lichfield and worked in parish ministry for 10 years in north Staffordshire. He came to Lincoln in 1987 and taught in the Theological College for eight years. After the college closed in 1995 he went on to do a number of jobs in various branches of theological and adult education, before starting work as Ministry Team Leader in the diocese in 2013. He is also licensed as a voluntary priest to the parishes in central Lincoln. A life-long railway historian and model builder, he works as a volunteer on the preserved Talyllyn Railway in Meirionydd.

The Revd Penny Green
Penny came to Lincoln in 1980 to teach at Lincoln Christ’s Hospital School, where she eventually became Assistant Headteacher, and in 1999 she moved to work in the Education Department of Lincolnshire County Council. Penny worshipped at St George’s, Swallowbeck in Lincoln and began training for ordination in 2003. She served her curacy at Holy Trinity, Boston and then in 2010 moved to be Priest in Charge of the South Lawres Group of Churches, before being made Incumbent of South Lawres and Barlings in 2013. Penny is delighted to accept this nomination from the Bishop and deems it a real honour, not only for herself, but also for her parishes. She is a governor of two primary schools and left a little bit of her heart in Brazil, where she spent some time in the summer of 2004.

Fr Paul Noble
Paul has been a parish priest in the diocese since 1990, having been ordained in 1982 in the Diocese of Gloucester. After eight years as Incumbent of Tydd St Mary, Sutton St James and Sutton St Edmund, Paul has been Rector of Skirbeck, Boston, for almost 20 years. After serving as Assistant Rural Dean, he has been Rural Dean of Holland since 2015. Paul is originally from Norfolk and he taught there before training for the priesthood at St Stephen’s House, Oxford. His wife Kate, however, who until recently was the Chaplaincy Administrator at Bishop Grosseteste University, is a native of Lincolnshire. Fr Paul served for two terms on the Diocesan Board of Finance and he is a Co-Representative of the Bishop of Richborough in the diocese.

The Revd Charles Patrick
In speaking about his life and ministry, Charles has said: “It doesn’t take a Yorkshireman much time to tell you where he was born, and yet I have lived and worked in Lincolnshire most of my life! I love this county, and I have enjoyed a very happy and fulfilled ministry here, at Barton-upon-Humber, Grimsby, Middle Rasen and now as Rector to the Horncastle Group. During this time I have been active on various groups and bodies within the diocese, including as a member of the Diocesan Synod, the Brugge link committee, the Diocesan Healing Group and the Board of Finance. I have also served as Rural Dean, and as a Bishop’s Adviser for the national Church. I am presently working with a dedicated and gifted team of lay and ordained colleagues in the Horncastle Group, and I am blessed in finding fertile ground to engage with the wider community and share the good news of the Gospel.”

Mrs Henrietta Reeve DL
As a Churchwarden of St Swithun’s Church, Leadenham, a representative for Loveden Deanery on Diocesan Synod and a member of the Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee, Henrietta has lived in Leadenham since 1980. She is also a member of the Cathedral Fabric Fund Committee in Sleaford, volunteers for Music Fund events and has four grown-up children. Looking ahead to the collation and installation of canons, Henrietta has said: “I am so honoured to have been appointed as a canon of Lincoln Cathedral and I will continue to do all I can to support the cathedral and diocese in every way possible.”

Professor Muriel Robinson OBE DL
Muriel spent her professional life in education, starting as a primary school teacher and retiring in 2013 from the post of Vice Chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University. Since her retirement she has been able to devote more time to a range of voluntary roles within the church. She is currently Lay Vice Chair of Lincoln Cathedral Community Association, and is also a steward at the cathedral. Her diocesan roles include membership of Bishop’s Council and she has also been pleased to serve on various task and finish groups, including the group advising on future governance arrangements. She also serves as Bishop’s Adviser and is an elected lay member of General Synod. Muriel and her husband live in uphill Lincoln and are both regular attendees at the Sunday Eucharist in the cathedral.

Fr David Rowett
David grew up on the Ermine estate in Lincoln, studied at Durham and Cuddesdon and returned to the diocese in 1989 for his first incumbency at St Matthew’s Fairfield, Grimsby. He then became parish priest of the Barton-upon-Humber Group (Barton, South Ferriby, Horkstow and Saxby-All-Saints), and he has been Rural Dean of Yarborough since 2011. David has been involved with Reader and local ministry training and adult Christian education, and he has been part of the diocesan vocations team since 1994. A Benedictine oblate, David is a member of the diocesan Spiritual Directors’ network and he is fascinated by the theologies which inhere the work of R.S. Thomas, ‘The Dream of the Rood’ and Terry Pratchett.

Looking ahead to February, the Very Revd Christine Wilson, Dean of Lincoln, said: “We look forward to welcoming the new canons to the cathedral community, and their part in contributing to the life and mission of the cathedral.”