Tribute planned for funeral of Dean

The service will be held at Ripon Cathedral from noon on Friday to celebrate the life of the Dean, Keith Jukes, who passed away on Tuesday last week at the age of 59.

Members of the congregation have been asked to bring a small stone that fits in the palm of their hand which can be added to a cairn that will be built in the entrance to the cathedral.

A spokeswoman for the cathedral said: “ Cairns mark a standing point in our journey – the path we have travelled and the way ahead.

“Dean Keith’s cairn will stand in the cathedral as a memory of his part in our journey, until the anniversary of his ordination at June 30.”

Dean Jukes died with his wife, Suzanne, at his bedside in Harrogate District Hospital after being admitted only hours earlier.

The former vicar of Selby Abbey had written an announcement which was read only two days earlier at services in Ripon Cathedral in which he disclosed he was unwell and that tests had revealed a growth in his upper abdomen which doctors were convinced was cancerous.

Tributes were paid last week including strong praise from the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, John Packer, who claimed the Dean had provided a “tremendous influence for good”.

The MP for Skipton and Ripon, Julian Smith, said he was “hugely saddened” at the death of a “forward-thinking Church leader”.

The Dean took up his post six years ago after Ripon Cathedral had endured one of the most turbulent periods in its history. His predecessor, John Methuen, quit in 2005 in a wine and women scandal before he died in 2010.