The St Wilfrid Lectures 2015 Rural Life and Living: Challenges and Opportunities
Programme 26th Feb 23rd April 11th June 17th Sept 15th Oct
Rt Revd John Inge: The Rural Church in Place Prof Nigel Curry: For they know not what they do: reflections on a lifetime of rural policy Does the Panel think...? The Very Revd John Dobson, Dean of Ripon, chairs a panel discussion Revd Canon Jeremy Martineau, OBE: Applying Industrial Mission Theology in a remote rural context: lessons from the Celtic fringe Poul Christensen, CBE: Young Farmers' Clubs - fighting back for Rural Communities
Lectures begin at 7.30pm in Ripon Cathedral. Free entry. All welcome. Ripon Cathedral, Minster Road, Ripon, HG4 1QS Tel: 01765 603462
About the speakers The Rt Revd Dr John Inge is the 113th Bishop of Worcester. Before ordination he was a chemist and his ministry since has included time as a parish priest on inner-city Tyneside, as Chaplain of Harrow School, as Canon Missioner at Ely Cathedral and as Bishop of Huntingdon. His academic interest is in place and his book A Christian Theology of Place was shortlisted for the Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing. He has a longstanding interest in rural affairs and served recently as President of the Royal Three Counties Show. He entered the House of Lords in 2012. Professor Nigel Curry founded the Countryside and Community Research Institute in 1986 at the University of Gloucestershire, where he has spent much of his research career. He has held visiting academic posts at the Queen’s University of Belfast, Lincoln University New Zealand, the University of Lincoln in England, the ETH in Switzerland and the Open University. He has written or edited nine books on rural policy issues. His public roles include Secretary of State Appointee to the Dartmoor National Park and trusteeship of a rural community council, a land trust and a community farm. Our Panel: The Rt Revd James Bell and Julian Smith MP are joined by representatives of the rural community in a lively debate around questions from the audience. The Panel will be chaired by the Very Revd John Dobson, Dean of Ripon. Jeremy Martineau, OBE trained at King’s College London & Warminster, moved through Northumberland Industrial Mission into being the first chaplain to Agriculture. Rural Mission appointments in Carlisle and Bristol led to his appointment as Joint-Secretary for the Archbishops’ Commission on Rural Areas, and as the first Rural Officer for the Archbishops’ Council from 1990-2003, based at the Arthur Rank Centre. In retirement he is serving as Hon Secretary for Fishguard and Goodwick Chamber of Trade & Tourism, and Director of the Centre for Studies in Rural Ministry. Poul Christensen, CBE was elected President of National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs in 2013 at the Annual General Meeting and re-elected as President for a second year at the AGM in 2014. He was the Chair of Natural England before stepping down from this post in 2013 and is a Director of a successful family dairy farming business at Kingston Hill Farm, in Oxfordshire. Poul has a long track record of integrating conservation with the demands of modern farming. He was Chairman of the Rural Development Service overseeing the launch of modern Environmental Stewardship schemes, a member of the Defra Management Board and chaired Milk Marque in the late 1990s. In 1981 he was the joint founder of the Tenant Farmers Association. Poul received the CBE in 1991 for services to agriculture and the commercial development of the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service (ADAS) and in 2013 was advanced as a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies (FRAgS).
Ripon Cathedral, at the heart of the Diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales, serves a primarily rural area with a fine agricultural heritage. At a time when our agricultural system is under pressure to feed an increasing population, while simultaneously being placed under financial pressure by supermarkets, the 2015 St Wilfrid’s Lecture series will discuss many issues close to the heart of communities across our Diocese and the United Kingdom. The St Wilfrid Lectures are jointly organised and sponsored by York St John University, Ripon Cathedral, the Methodist District of York and Hull, and the Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales.