THE new Vicar of Bolton, Canon Michael Williams, was officially licensed and welcomed to the town last night in a ceremony at Bolton Parish Church.

There to welcome him was the Right Rev Christopher Mayfield, Bishop of Manchester, and the Venerable Lorys Davies, Archdeacon of Bolton.

Before taking up his post, Canon WIlliam was principal of the Northern Ordination Course in Manchester, training priests and ministers of the future on behalf of the Church of England and the Methodist movement.

He said: "After 20 years of telling other people how to do it, I thought it was about time to practise what I preach."

For eight years, Canon Williams, 57, worked as a priest in Toxteth, Liverpool, before moving to St John's College, Durham, where he began to train others for the priesthood.

West Bromwich-born Canon Williams, is married with two children, and relishes the prospect of working in Bolton.

People

"What attracted me to the job was the fact that there is both congregational work in the Parish Church itself and the responsibility to the town centre and to the people of Bolton as a whole."

He replaces Canon Alan Wolstencroft, who left Bolton last year to become the Archdeacon of Manchester.

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