Welcome to our new Precentor and Residentiary Canon Designate

The Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral are delighted to announce the appointment of Revd Wendy Dalrymple as the new Precentor*, Residentiary Canon Designate and Head of Worship and Events.

In recruiting for this new role, the Cathedral, in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury, sought a colleague with creative flair to support the Cathedral’s life, sustaining all that is already good, and also developing both worship and events to help fulfil the Cathedral’s ambition to serve the Diocese and the Communion in ever more vivid, thoughtful and imaginative ways. Wendy will begin her new role in Canterbury in autumn 2023.

Prior to ordination, Wendy was a Youth and Community worker, working in faith-based and secular settings, including for the YMCA where she ran projects in prisons. She served her curacy in the Mirfield Team Parish in Wakefield Diocese before becoming the first chaplain to the Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing, West Sussex. She spent three years in Guildford Diocese as Priest-In-Charge of a rural multi-parish benefice, and for the past eight years has been Rector of All Saints with Holy Trinity, Loughborough in the Diocese of Leicester where she has fostered an inclusive approach to both the pastoral and liturgical life of the church. She has also served as Area Dean, Chair of House of Clergy and most recently as a General Synod representative.

She has been attending Greenbelt festival for more years than she cares to remember, and likes nothing better on her day off than a long walk followed by a boxset binge. She is married to Chris who is a retired Police Officer which gives him more time to enjoy his love of wildlife and the countryside, particularly fly-fishing. They have three grown-up children and two grandchildren. They are looking forward to making their home in Canterbury along with canine companions Angus and Thorn.

‘It is a privilege and a joy to be asked to join the community of prayer that is the heartbeat of Canterbury Cathedral’ said Wendy, ‘I first visited eleven years ago on a parish pilgrimage and never imagined then, as I received the hospitality of this extraordinary place of Christian witness, that I would one day join those extending that to others. I am looking forward to delving into the riches of the choral and liturgical tradition of this place and exploring with the dedicated and talented team here how we can best fulfil our vocation as the mother Church of both the Diocese and the wider Anglican Communion.’

Welcoming the announcement of Wendy’s appointment, The Dean of Canterbury, the Very Reverend Dr David Monteith, said: ‘Our music, services and events need curating by someone who really understands how to capture our imaginations. We need someone who will work with others to draw from our rich heritage but relating it all with and to the contemporary world.  Wendy’s experience and skills and personality make her ideally suited to join us as we shape a cathedral which can serve everyone and draw us all deeper into God in Christ.  She will help us to make this ‘our cathedral’.’

Wendy will be welcomed and licensed by The Right Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, and installed at Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday 5 November at 5.30pm. All are welcome to join with us.

*Previously, the role of Precentor at Canterbury has been a more junior clergy post but the Chapter has taken the decision to make it more senior and to attach it to a Residentiary Canonry.  However, we are limited by our instruments of governance as to how many such appointments we can make. From the outset, the appointee will function as a senior Canon but will only be able to formally be installed as such when a position falls vacant in the future. For this reason, Wendy will be a Residentiary Canon Designate during this transitional period.