Prestwich priest appointed area Dean

Date published: 21 May 2009

THE Reverend Debby Plummer, priest-in-charge of the parish of St Margaret, Prestwich, has been appointed by the Bishop of Manchester as the Area Dean of Radcliffe and Prestwich.

Revd. Plummer accepted the invitation of the Bishop, Rt. Revd. Nigel McCulloch, at the weekend, and announced the news yesterday morning. She succeeds the Revd. Canon Chich Hewitt, former Vicar of St Thomas & St John’s Church in Radcliffe, who left the area earlier this month for a new position in Swinton.

Commenting on her new appointment, Revd. Plummer said: “Although it is certainly a challenge, I am honoured by Bishop Nigel’s invitation and will be doing my best to spend as much time as I can with people rather than paperwork! I look forward to working closely with my colleagues and their parishioners for the benefit of all the residents of Radcliffe and Prestwich.”

While Revd. Plummer will not be leaving her duties in Prestwich, she will gain a number of key roles in caring for the eleven parishes – with their clergy and parishioners – in an area including Ainsworth, Hillock, Prestwich, Radcliffe, Simister, Unsworth and Whitefield. As an officer of the Bishop, she will engage with the parishes to further the work of the Church throughout the area, and will be responsible for caring for parishes without their own clergy, conducting routine business, and providing a means of communication between the parishes and the Bishop.

Revd. Plummer became priest-in-charge of St Margaret’s and St George’s in July 2007. She will assume her additional responsibilities immediately, although she will be officially licensed in the near future.

The deanery of Radcliffe and Prestwich is one of the Church of England’s 22 administrative areas which make up the Diocese of Manchester, which covers 415 square miles of the north-west.