Former Archbishop of Canterbury coming to Shropshire

A former Archbishop of Canterbury will be conducting a confirmation service in Shropshire this summer.

Ex-Archbishop George Carey has been invited to the parish of Whittington by Canon Philip Crowe, a retired clergyman who now lives at Babbinswood, near Oswestry.

Canon Crowe, who was principal of the theological college at Old Sarum, Salisbury, during his long career, and later became Vicar of Penley and Erbistock on the north west Shropshire border, will host the June visit.

The confirmation candidates from Whittington and West Felton have been told the news.

But church warden of St John the Baptist Church at Whittington, Don Howard, says in the latest edition of the parish magazine that other people interested in becoming confirmed could still join in their confirmation classes in time for the June 12 service at 10.30am.

Born in 1935 in the east end of London, George Carey served as Archbishop of Canterbury in April 1991 and retired from that position in October 2002. He was created a life peer as Baron Carey of Clifton a month later.