Your 'Nominees' for the next Bishop of Croydon invited

The Bishop of Southwark, having consulted with the Diocesan Bishop's Council and the Croydon Area Council, about the job description and person specification, wishes now to consider names for a new Bishop of Croydon to succeed the Rt Rev Wilfred Wood on his retirement, and would welcome suggestions by 20 December.

Ordination

The Bishop of Southwark ordained nine priests at Holy Trinity, Clapham on Saturday 5 October. They are the Rev Jackie Annon (OLM - All Saints, Tooting); the Rev Victor Cuthbert (OLM - St Matthew, Surbiton); the Rev Paul Dawson (Emmanuel, Wimbledon); the Rev John Hillier (OLM - St Mary the Virgin, Merton); the Rev Peter Milligan (NSM - St Margaret, Putney); the Rev Sarah Mullally (NSM - Battersea Fields); the Rev Jane Roberts (NSM - The Ascension, Pollards Hill); the Rev Eileen Serbutt (OLM - St Mary & St John the Divine, Balham) and the Rev Rachel Taylor (Wimbledon Team Ministry). Also in the photo with Bishop Tom are Canon Jeffrey John, Canon Stephen Roberts and the Rev. David Isherwood and the Rev. Caroline Clarke (Vicar and Hon. Curate of Holy Trinity).

A tradition of service

The Southwark Diocesan Servers Festival was started in 1909 by Bishop Talbot who was concerned that servers should have a regular opportunity to meet and worship together - and with one or two small 'changes', they have met annually ever since.

Bishop Talbot invited servers in the Diocese to join in worship in the Cathedral on the Saturday after the Feast of the Epiphany. The day was chosen because, as the Wise Men offered gifts so servers were to offer their service to God. For a a couple of years in the 1950s the date changed.

Bishop Mervyn Stockwood felt that early January was not a suitable time for a diocesan service and changed the date to mid-May. On the first occasion the Cathedral was packed but the following year the date clashed with the Cup Final, with the obvious consequence that the congregation was sparse. He decided to go back to Epiphany!

During 1999, the Cathedral Vice-Provost, Canon Roy White, thought that the Festival should be revised for the turn of the century. He wanted to ensure that the 12 servers serving at the Eucharist would be fully representative of the Diocese, so from 2000 each of the 6 archdeaconries has supplied 2 servers.

The 2003 Servers Festival will take place in the Cathedral on Saturday 11 January starting at 12 noon with a Eucharist and ending with Solemn Evensong at 3pm.

Record funds raised by churches & schools

Churches and church schools in the Diocese collected a record total of over £114,000 for charities at home and abroad in response to the Bishop's Lent Call. The following amounts to were presented to charities at the November Synod:

• £25,000 to restore a pumped water supply (destroyed by war) in Gulu, Uganda
• £3,000 to a Children's Home in Georgia
• £25,000 for a Breakfast Club and After-school Club in Clapham
• £25,000 to provide water and goats in Darfur, West Sudan
• £8,000 to a Women's Support and Income Generating Project in Zimbabwe

In addition, £8,000 each has been earmarked for projects in the three dioceses in Zimbabwe linked with Southwark Diocese.