The Bishop of Coventry, the Right Reverend Colin Bennetts, will ordain the following deacon and priest candidates at the 10.30am service in Coventry Cathedral on 12 July.

EIGHT DEACON CANDIDATES

To Holy Trinity Church, Coventry

Anthony Burford (42) was born and raised in Chile and has lived in England since 1985.  His translation bureau and language school, targeted at executives, bridged South America and Britain.  He and his wife Jackie have worked together both in that business and as missionaries in Argentina and have run Marriage Encounter programmes together for many years.  They have two children, Jacqueline (17) and Andrew (13).  Anthony enjoys international cuisine and golf.  01203 504141

To St Mary the Virgin, Bearley and St James the Great, Snitterfield (Non-Stipendiary Minister)

Lynne Davies (54) was a radiographer at Merthyr Tydfil hospital at the time of the Aberfan disaster in 1966 - "a significant moment in my search for God," she says.  Her husband Michael, also Welsh, an agronomist, moved to the Vale of Evesham shortly afterwards and remains a specialist in crop disease.  Lynne has since brought up 5 children at their Salford Priors home where she has become involved in church and community affairs.  She was till recently a governor at Dunnington Grant Maintained School, a Reader at St Matthew's and Co-director of the Diocese's Exploring Christian Ministry vocational course. S he also contributes a regular Pause for Thought on FM102 The Bear.  A keen Jazz listener, she has been described as a "religious Victoria Wood".  01789 773711

To St Paul's, Warwick

Sarah Edmonds (32) is an Educational Psychologist.  Until recently she has been working with teenage "school refusers" and youngsters with emotional problems for Hampshire LEA.  She first started thinking about full time Christian ministry while a student in London, but her vocation became clearer when her husband Robin, an IT network manager, moved to Southampton and they both became involved in church life.  Sarah enjoys opera and needlework

To St James, Whitley (Non-Stipendiary Minister)

Penny Hughes (51) has a background in company and commercial law and has worked for JKN, British Leyland, Chrysler, Sketchley and the Daily Express.  The high point of her varied career was the "champagne and Concorde" lifestyle of TVam, which along with its celebrities proved vulnerable indeed.  She remembers Ulrika Johnnson as the MD's junior secretary as "a poppet".  Accompanying her husband Geoffrey into retirement, she has been very active in the diocese as a Reader and as Director of the Exploring Christian Ministry vocational course for lay people.  Delighted to be returning to assist in the parish where she once worked for Chrysler (now Peugeot), she counts among her interests riding, swimming and India.  01203 305474

To St Paul's, Stockingford (Non-Stipendiary Minister)

Lesley Johnson (51) spent 20 years with Coventry's Ambulance Service before an accident 4 years ago forced her retirement.   Till now a regular worshipper at St James' Whitley, she is looking forward to spending 4 days a week in the north of the County where she has already been on placement.   She loves cooking "but eating's the best bit," she says.  01203 305774

To All Saints, Emscote

Christopher Palmer (27) has been doing theology research for an Oxford doctorate and was organist at his local church at the same time.  Married to Olivia, a nursery nurse, they have 3 children under 5.  01926 491450

To St Nicolas, Nuneaton (Minister in Secular Employment)

Dawn Waterton (51) works in the Accounts Department of Gallifords Engineering at their Head Office in Wolvey.  As a "minister in secular employment" she will keep this job and forge links between church life and the "real world" from her base at St Nicolas.  She and her husband Peter have a tandem and a Morris Minor - "both keep us fit" - and keep bees.   01455 212861

To St James, Fletchamstead

Danny Wignall (32) was until recently Careers Adviser at the Roehampton Institute of FE.  He had previously helped young offenders get jobs through NACRO.  Both he and his wife Debbie were introduced to Christian ministry through the radical leadership structure of All Saints Brixton Hill. "First, as a trained primary teacher, I discovered I preferred working with individual young adults; then, through youth work at church, I stumbled across leadership skills," he says.  Danny claims to have been "hoodwinked" into the Church of England - he knew nothing of its structures or worship traditions until he was training for Anglican ministry. "It's been a revelation," he admits. A keen bass guitarist, Danny uses his computer to compose songs of his own. He is also a keen sportsman. 01203 473281

SIX PRIEST CANDIDATES

At Holy Trinity, Attleborough

The Reverend Nicholas Clarke

At Long Compton, Whichford, Barton-on-the-Heath, Wolford w Burmington, Cherington w Stourton & Barcheston

The Reverend Dr Rodney Holder

At St Oswald's, Tile Hill

The Reverend Paul Martin-Smith

At St Michael's, Stoke

The Reverend Carl Peters

At St Chad's, Wood End

The Reverend Calvert Prentis

Copies of biographies of priest candidates, issued last year at their deaconing, can be obtained from the Communications Office.

MORE INFORMATION: Revd Lawrence Mortimer 01564 795545

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