Bradford Cathedral

All are invited to join us for our ‘Installation and Collation of Canons’ service on Sunday 24th November at 3:30pm, during which new people will be installed and collated as canons of Bradford Cathedral by the Rt Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds.

You can find out more about the individuals below.

Oliver Evans

Oliver was born in Manchester in 1970. As a twin, he is one of four sons. In 1978, the Evans family moved across the Pennines.

His dad changed pastorates from Manchester to minister in Bradford at Holme URC Church. His parents served for nearly 30yrs, leading the church and setting up the charity Holme Christian Care centre in BD4.

Growing up in the life of the church was always busy and never dull. As a family we were encouraged to love God, have a love for the church & put others first.

In our youth our key passion was definitely participating in any sport on offer. A keen interest which continues to this day. Oliver volunteered in various roles in the life of his local church over many years before entering the ministry.

Following 5yrs in the civil service, Oliver’s career was spent ostensibly in ‘Sales Management’ chiefly within the chemical industry. Looking after key accounts and heading up Sales teams across several different business sectors.

In 2011, Oliver was inducted as Pastor of Buttershaw Congregational church (Now called The Rock Church in BD6).

In 2023, The Rock Network was birthed which offers teaching and encouragement via four conferences throughout the year. These are currently hosted in Yorkshire and the Midlands.

In 2014, Oliver joined the Sports Chaplaincy UK family(SCUK) and he was initially chaplain of Bradford Bulls before changing codes to Bradford City where he has served since 2018.

This is a role that he thoroughly enjoys. It is always a great privilege to build friendships and relationships in the wider sports community.

Oliver is married to Lorraine who is an FE lecturer. They have 3 Children, Quincy 21, Estelle 17 and Austin 15.

Whilst Oliver comes from a free church heritage he is looking forward to serving the cathedral in this role as honorary ecumenical canon.

Phil Arnold

Phil Arnold was born in Brisbane, Australia and spent some of his childhood in Pakistan where his parents worked with CMS.

Phil trained as a nurse and initially worked in Brisbane, before moving to Bangladesh to work in a rural hospital. It was in Bangladesh that he met Sally and then moved to England in 2001 where they married and settled in Bradford. Phil worked in public health and then for Urban Vision before training for ministry at St John’s College, Nottingham.

Phil served his curacy in Pudsey, before his first post at St Wilfrid’s Calverley in Leeds. Sally died in 2014. In 2020, Phil moved to Christ Church, Upper Armley. He is doing a DTh ( Roehampton) examining the way in which we work with people who are marginalised to support their faith development.

Phil is now married to Rachel, who worked for Christians Against Poverty, and has two children, Ben and Daisy.

He loves playing and watching sport (especially when it involves Australia winning!) travelling, long walks, and spending time with his family.

Jude Smith

Jude Smith was born and brought up in Luton where she came to faith aged sixteen. She studied history in Cambridge-specialising in the US civil rights movement. After university she spent a life transforming few months in South Africa, working with the Salvation Army among homeless families and AIDS orphans.

After training to teach, Jude returned to Luton to work for the town wide schools work organisation where she came to know and love the estates in the North of the town. She moved to Marsh Farm, taught in a school there and became involved in innovative community work.

Dreams of planting a church in that place never quite happened- but the seeds of Anglican vocation were sown and Jude trained for ordained ministry in Bristol before heading North. She served in outer estate and inner urban parishes across Leeds before taking up the role of Director of Church Revitalisation in 2021. Her role includes leading on Barnabas: Encouraging Confidence.

Jude remains a passionate advocate for her town (including its football club), and loves to be outdoors. Her ideal day is walking a long distance trail before sitting down with an easy read crime novel.

Rev. Jenny Ramsden

Jenny trained for ordination with the Yorkshire Ministry Course and was ordained at Bradford Cathedral in 2014.

Jenny is Inter Faith Adviser for the Diocese of Leeds. She delivers training for ministry in multi faith contexts to Anglican clergy and lay leaders across the Diocese and is actively engaged in building positive interfaith relationships.

Prior to this Jenny was the interfaith worker for Touchstone Bradford, part of the Methodist church, where it was her role to gather together groups of women from diverse faiths and backgrounds in various creative ways, in order for them to form deep and genuine friendships and transform communities for the better.

Alongside these roles Jenny has also worked as a freelance ‘Women’s Project Coordinator’ for Religions for Peace UK, with a particular focus on challenging gender based religious violence.

Jenny is married with two adult children. She enjoys walking on the Yorkshire Moors, travelling, and spending time with friends and family – particularly over a good meal…

Jonathan Cain

Jonathan was born and grew up in the southeast of England and settled in Yorkshire for work after graduating in civil engineering from Nottingham University in 1990. His first proper job was in Bradford for Yorkshire Water. He worked as a civil engineer until training for ordination on the Yorkshire Ministry Course, 2013-2015. Jonathan served his curacy at Bolton Abbey and is now the Vicar of St James’ Woodside in Horsforth. He also chairs the trustee board of Lighthouse (West Yorkshire).

Jonathan is married to Rebecca, and they have four adult children. He supports Rebecca and her business partner Sue who run a leadership and coaching company. Rebecca and Jonathan are jointly involved in the link between the Diocese of Leeds and the Mara Region of Tanzania.

Links to Bradford – first proper job, I (used to) know a lot about Bradford’s sewage system, Bradford MBA, historic Bradford was my sending diocese.

Bradford Cathedral

Meet the new Canons being Installed and Collated this weekend

Bradford Cathedral Music Team mark Celebration Sunday

From one musical family to another: Robert Webb joins the Bradford Cathedral Choir as the Bass Lay Clerk

Notes from an Organist: Thomas Hawkes (Cirencester Parish Church)