New Archdeacon of Doncaster welcomed

Last Updated on Thursday, 26 January 2012 09:26

The New Archdeacon of Doncaster, Revd Steve Wilcockson, will be welcomed to the Diocese by the Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Steven Croft, at a special service at Sheffield Cathedral on Wednesday 25 January (7.30pm).

Steve succeeds Bob Fitzharris who retired from the role last month.

As Archdeacon of Doncaster, Steve will work closely with both the Bishop of Sheffield and Bishop of Doncaster and will be responsible for working across the deaneries of the Doncaster archdeaconry.

Steve has university degrees in Law and French, as well as in Theology, from Nottingham and Oxford. He trained for the ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and has a long experience of parish ministry in a wide variety of contexts.

His first parish as vicar was an inner urban area of Merseyside and then moved to a large parish of housing estates in Chester. Both these parishes experienced significant growth under his leadership.

He served as Curate in both Bradford and Southwark dioceses and as vicar of one of the biggest suburban churches in Greater London for 14 years. For seven years he was Rural Dean of Epsom and returned to the Chester Diocese to take up his previous post in 2009.

He is a Church Pastoral Aid Society Council Member and, for many years, was a Trustee of the South American Mission Society.

After the welcome service in Sheffield Cathedral this month, Steve will also be officially welcomed to the Diocese along with the new Bishop of Doncaster, Peter Burrows, at a special Civic Service in Doncaster Minster on Saturday 11 February (11am).