TWO new honorary canons have been installed in Blackburn Cathedral by the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Rev Alan Chesters.

They are the Rev Steward Hartley, priest in charge of St John's, Great Marsden, near Nelson and the Rev Jim Burns, rector of St Mary's Church, Rufford with Holmeswood.

Mr Hartley said being made a canon was an encouragement to his urban priority area in his parish, its community service involvement and church development plans.

He grew up in East Lancashire and worked as a communications engineer before training for ordination at St John's College, Nottingham.

Mr Burns, from Manchester, is the first priest from his parish to become a canon since the Blackburn Diocese was created in 1926.

He is diocesan warden for pastoral auxiliaries and was a sales representative for a paper manufacturing company before training for ordination at Whitefield Theological College.

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