Hundreds of worshippers gather to see new Dean installed in historic service

A NEW dean has been installed in an historic service at Ripon Cathedral.

Hundreds of worshippers packed the service on Saturday to see the Very Rev John Dobson, 49, become the Dean of Ripon.

He was welcomed into the city by civic and community leaders, as well as lay people from across the new Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales for the service which was led by the Bishop of Knaresborough, the Rt Rev James Bell.

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The Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Lord Crathorne, and representatives of the Armed Forces were in the congregation, which also included former parishioners and colleagues of the new dean from the Diocese of Durham, where he had previously served, who accompanied him to the West Door at the start of the service and announced him to the cathedral.

Before the service, he prayed silently in the Saxon crypt built by St Wilfrid in 672. He took
his oath on the Ripon Bible which dates from the 13th century. The Sub-Dean of Ripon, Canon Keith Punshon, led the Dean to his stall and placed him in it.

The deans of Bradford and Wakefield cathedrals, the sister cathedrals of Ripon in the new diocese, anointed his hands with oil, and the residentiary canons of Ripon clothed him with a cope, the cloak of office.

The father-of-two was born and brought up in Swillington in Leeds, where he attended St Mary’s Church and has served in his church career entirely within the Diocese of Durham up until now. He succeeds the Very Rev Keith Jukes, who died suddenly last year.

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