CAP express concern over ‘unaffordable energy bills’

CHRISTIANS AGAINST POVERTY (CAP) has warned that the two-per-cent increase in the energy price cap will lead to millions of people of households on the lowest incomes struggling to pay their winter fuel bills. The charity estimates that increases this year have already “added an extra £35 per year to an average household’s energy bills, increasing them to £1,755”. “Many millions across the UK are already in crisis, unable to afford basic essentials like keeping their homes warm and the lights on,” CAP’s chief executive, Stewart McCulloch, said. Comment

Tributes to bishop’s mother after fatal accident

CONDOLENCES have been offered to the Bishop of Llandaff, the Rt Revd Mary Stallard, on the death of her mother in a road accident on Tuesday. Daphne Stallard, 89, was hit by a refuse lorry in Llandudno on Tuesday and died at the scene. “I know that all members of the Church in Wales, and all those who know Bishop Mary, will join with me in offering their sincere sympathies and their prayers for her and her family at this very sad time,” the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Cherry Vann, said.


Barred priest gets three years for GBH

GEOFFREY BAULCOMB, 79, of Eastbourne, who was barred from ministry last year, has been jailed for causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) through extreme body modification on another man in January 2020, and filming it. He was sentenced to three years in prison at the Old Bailey on Monday. The term includes six months for possession of child pornography, to which he had already pleaded guilty. He was barred from ministry last year for possession of illegal substances (News, 13 June).


Iona’s Kathy Galloway dies, aged 73

THE Iona Community has announced the death of a former leader, the Revd Kathy Galloway, aged 73, on 26 August from cancer. She was the first woman elected to lead the Community, in 2001, which she did until 2009, and then again in the 2010s. She was also Head of Christian Aid Scotland and a patron of the Student Christian Movement.

Barnsley church steels itself for the future

THE theft of lead from the roof of St John’s, Penistone, in Sheffield diocese, in 2007, continues to cause problems. The church could afford only short-term repairs at the time and now needs to raise £175,000 for the roof, which has deteriorated. “The insurance wouldn’t pay up the amount we needed,” the Team Rector, the Revd David Hopkin, told the BBC. “The felt has not held out against the elements, leading to water ingress that now threatens the structural integrity of this historic site.” The Grade I listed church was built in the 1300s. So far, £100,000 has been raised from grants and events to install stainless-steel protection on the roof.


Correction. We reported last week that the National Safeguarding Team had emailed all those affected by the Redress Scheme data breach with advice on support services. The email was only sent to people who had signed up to its Safeguarding Newsletter.