THE new Dean of Ely Cathedral was officially unveiled this week.

The government announced that The Revd Canon Mark Bonney, Canon Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral will become the new Dean of Ely, succeeding The Very Revd Dr Michael Chandler, who retired last year.

Canon Bonney, 55, was educated in Cambridge before training for the ministry at St Stephen’s House, Oxford.

Canon Bonney said: “I am delighted and excited about the prospect of coming to Ely as dean. Cathedrals have a very particular role to play working with the bishop in the ministry and mission of the diocese.”

He added: “I will be fundamentally committed to the rhythm of worship and prayer that is at the heart of the cathedral’s life, and look forward to working with chapter colleagues so that the cathedral may grow further as a place of energizing encounter and engagement with Jesus Christ.”

The Bishop of Ely, The Right Reverend Stephen Conway, added: “I am delighted that Mark is to be the next Dean of Ely. He has a wealth of parish and cathedral experience and, having been at Cambridge, already knows the diocese. The diocese will have a priest as dean whose ministry is all about making connections between the gospel and the wider community.”

Canon Bonney was ordained priest in Durham Cathedral in 1986 and began his ministry on Teeside before moving to be Chaplain to St Alban’s Cathedral in 1988 where he also served as Precentor between 1990-1992.

Canon Bonney is married to Kate, a primary school teacher, and they have two daughters, Hannah, at university, and Eleanor, about to take GCSE’s.

Canon Bonney will be installed as Dean of Ely on Saturday, September 22 at 11am. His last day officiating in services at Salisbury Cathedral is Sunday, July 22. He will move to Ely in August.