The Bishop of St Asaph is pleased to announce the appointment of the Reverend Dr Peter Pike as the next Archdeacon of Montgomery succeeding the Venerable John Thelwell who retires at the end of June.
Peter will play a key role in helping to shape the life and witness of the church in rural areas of the Diocese of St Asaph and will also serve as Vicar of Berriew.
He is currently serving in the Diocese of York where he has been Vicar of the Headland Benefice – four villages on Flamborough Head, east of Bridlington – for the past eight years. He has also served as Rural Dean of that town and its surrounding rural parishes. Prior to this he served in Lancashire in Blackburn Diocese for twenty years as a parish priest, rural dean and also as Assistant Diocesan Director of Ordinands, and Assistant Tutor on a non-residential theological course.
Peter was born and bought up in south London, with an English father and a Welsh mother from Penclawdd, near Swansea. He trained to teach in Hull and prior to ordination taught children with special educational needs.
Peter is married to Deb; they have two sons, a daughter and two grandsons. He particularly enjoys reading poetry, American fiction and biographies, and walking with his black Labrador, Keeper. As someone currently living on the one of the easternmost promontories of England, he is delighted at the prospect of two and a half hours of Y Clwb Rygbi on S4C every Sunday morning, although he realizes he will have to record it!
Commenting on his appointment Peter said:
“We have been very happy in all the places in which we have lived and I have served, and we shall miss all the friends we have made in the north of England a great deal. But we look forward to making friends and working closely with new colleagues in Berriew, the Archdeaconry of Montgomery, and the Diocese of St Asaph.”
The Bishop of St Asaph, the Right Reverend Dr Gregory K Cameron is looking forward to welcoming Peter to the Diocese and having him as a senior clerical colleague. He said:
“Peter is a priest of enormous spirituality and faith, who brings now to Wales a wealth of experience in rural ministry in the north of England.
“We believe that he will both complement and challenge the Bishop’s Staff team in the diocese of St Asaph, and we look forward to receiving him and his family in this particular part of the world.”
Peter will be inducted as the Vicar of Berriew on Monday 10 September 2012 at the Parish Church of St Beuno, Berriew and will be installed as Archdeacon of Montgomery in St Asaph Cathedral on Monday 01 October 2012.
