The Chapter of Truro Cathedral has announced that the Revd Canon Alan Bashforth is to be the next Canon Chancellor of Truro Cathedral.

Alan is currently Vicar of St Agnes with Mount Hawke and Mithian, Priest in Charge of Truro St Clements and Non-Residentiary Canon of Truro Cathedral.

He will be installed by the Dean on behalf of the Chapter at Truro Cathedral at 4pm on Sunday, October 12 at Evensong. The Canon Chancellor holds responsibility for the Cathedral’s work of public theology, theological reflection and of Christian education.

Alan was ordained Deacon in Truro Cathedral in June 1996 to serve the Parish of Calstock and was ordained Priest the following year in Calstock Parish Church. In 1998 he married his wife, Lis, and moved to St Ives where he worked for three years before moving to St Agnes in 2001 where he commenced his most recent role.

Alan said; “By the time I leave my post as Vicar of St Agnes and Mount Hawke with Mithian, I will have held that post for 4,872 days. That amounts to around thirteen and a half years. It has been a privilege to serve the churches and the communities that I have been a part of in that time.”

Beyond Parish life, Alan co-founded and helped to facilitate the Diocesan Youth Synod from 2001-2004; he was elected Rural Dean of Powder (the Truro Deanery) in 2004, undertaking this role for almost ten years; he became a member of the Bishop’s Executive and in 2005 became a member of the General Synod. He has a passion for teaching (with particular interest in the letters of St Paul) and has welcomed many curates and students through the years to provide a ‘hands on’ experience of ministry.

Speaking about his appointment to the position of Canon Chancellor, Alan said; “I am excited at the prospect of helping the Cathedral to continue to develop as a place of thinking, conversation and dialogue, on all sorts of levels in the years ahead. Many people I meet still want to talk about and experience God and the Cathedral is a remarkable place in which we might help them to do that. I look forward to being part of the team that can make the conversation and experience happen.”

The Very Reverend Roger Bush, Dean of Truro, said “We are thrilled that Alan will be joining our Cathedral family in the role of Canon Chancellor. He has already made a very significant contribution to the work of the Diocese and the Cathedral, and his knowledge, insight and passion will help us enormously in our goal to inspire and engage all who experience this wonderful building. We are all looking forward to supporting him as he takes forward the educational, theological and artistic aspects of Truro Cathedral.”