Interim Dean’s Address to Annual Parochial Church Meeting

As we gather, and as you have heard me say often, once again I offer my grateful thanks for your warmth, support, encouragement to me.

It continues to be both a privilege and delight to share with you in the ministry of this place as Interim Dean. My report is essentially in the written Annual Report, but I would also like to add some reflections here today.

Looking back across what has been, it has in many respects, been an extraordinarily difficult year in 2025, and yet we have continued as the faithful people of God and look forward with hope and determination to all that still lies before us in this centenary year of 2026.

The Cathedral continues to serve, to worship, and to witness, and I pay testament to the resilience, the faithfulness, and the sheer dedication of all of you, who give yourselves to this place. To each and every one of you, my heartfelt and sincere thanks..

One hundred years.

Behind every one of those hundred years, and not least this past year, stand countless individuals: staff who brought skill and vocation to their work, and volunteers who gave freely of their time, their energy, and their love for this place. That unbroken chain of faithful service is part of what makes Blackburn Cathedral so very special. And yet the mission remains the same: to worship God, to welcome all, to be a praying community and to witness to the grace of Jesus Christ at the heart of Lancashire.

And at the heart of that mission, above all else, before all else, is this: a cathedral exists for worship, for prayer, and for faithful service. Not primarily as a venue, nor as a visitor attraction, nor even as a centre of community life, wonderful and vital as all those things are. First and last, this is a house of God. A place where, day by day, the Daily Office is prayed, the Eucharist is celebrated, and the people of God gather to offer their lives in praise and intercession. A place of encounter where the story of Jesus is told so that those who haven’t heard it may do so vividly.

Everything else we do, every programme, every partnership, every event, flows from that central, calling.It is the wellspring from which all our other work draws its life.

And none of it would be possible without the people who make it so: the virgers and musicians, the welcomers and administrators, the Checks & Greys staff, the flower arrangers, the servers, the readers and intercessors, the tour guides and the givers. People whose names may never appear in a programme or a press release, but without whom this Cathedral simply could not function. It is this faithfulness in worship, prayer, and service, sustained quietly and consistently, day after day, by real people with real commitment, that has made Blackburn Cathedral what it is today and what it will be in the future.

I would not be honest with you this morning, however, if I did not acknowledge directly that 2025 brought with it challenges of a profound and painful kind; challenges that have been felt deeply by many in this community, and that we must face with courage and with honesty. The publication of the INEQE Safeguarding Audit was a difficult moment for this Cathedral. Its findings were serious. It identified failures in our safeguarding culture and made clear that urgent and comprehensive reform was needed.

That was hard to hear. But the Cathedral accepted those findings in full, and work has already begun, and determinedly, to address them. New Chapter members with safeguarding expertise have been appointed. A Safeguarding Improvement Board was established. Partnership with the Diocese for the management of safeguarding casework has been strengthened. These are not token gestures. They are the first steps of a genuine commitment to ensuring that this Cathedral is, and is known to be, a place where every person is safe, valued, and protected.

I also want to acknowledge, with sensitivity and with care, the circumstances that led to my appointment as Interim Dean. The suspension of the Very Revd. Peter Howell-Jones under the Clergy Discipline Measure has been unsettling and upsetting for many of us, and I recognise that.

The proper processes must be allowed to run their course, and I ask for your continued patience and your prayers as that happens. What I can say is this: my role here is nothing but to serve; to walk alongside you through this period of uncertainty with pastoral care, transparency, and a steady commitment to the wellbeing of this community and all who belong to it. It remains a work in progress.

None of this has been easy. And through all of it, through the audits and the headlines, through the uncertainty and the disruption, the staff and volunteers of this Cathedral have continued to show up.They have continued to pray, to serve, to welcome, and to work. I want to say with great sincerity: that faithfulness, in the face of such difficulty, has been nothing short of remarkable.

To the entire staff team, who have carried considerable weight this past year, thank you. And to our volunteers, those extraordinary, dedicated individuals who give so generously of their time with no expectation of reward, simply out of love for this Cathedral and its mission, your loyalty and your steadfastness during a turbulent season has meant more than words can adequately express. Thank you.

It is precisely because we value our staff that Chapter has made a firm commitment to investing in the structures that support them properly. We are putting in place a number of important and practical measures that reflect our belief that good governance begins with how we treat the people who serve this Cathedral every day.

We are clarifying and strengthening roles and responsibilities across the staff team, so that everyone knows clearly what is expected of them and where they fit within the life of this Cathedral. We are establishing robust and consistent line management arrangements, so that every member of staff has proper support, clear accountability, and a genuine voice. And we are developing a meaningful wellbeing strategy, because we recognise that the demands placed on those who work in a Cathedral community, particularly through a period as challenging as the one we have navigated, can be considerable, and that caring for our people is not a luxury but a necessity.

And yet, and this is important, 2025 was also a year of genuine achievement, and we must not allow the difficulties to obscure that.

We saw real growth in the life and witness of this Cathedral community.

Luke Jerram’s remarkable Gaia installation drew thousands of visitors to this sacred space, offering moments of wonder and reflection to people who might never otherwise have crossed our threshold. Music, worship, and community events continued to enrich the life of this town and diocese. The Cathedral’s voice remains – and we need it to be again a strong voice of hope. We will get there – because of the people in this room and those who stand alongside you: paid and voluntary, seen and unseen.

I must also speak plainly about our finances, because honesty in this area is as important as honesty in any other. Cathedral finances remain tight. That is the reality, and it would serve no one to pretend otherwise. Running a building of this scale, sustaining the breadth of our ministry, and meeting the demands upon us, all place significant pressure on our resources.

Chapter is acutely aware of this, and I want to assure you that financial discipline and responsible stewardship are at the very forefront of our thinking. To that end, Chapter has made a clear and firm commitment: there will be no new projects undertaken without the funding either securely in place or formally promised through grants.

Our ambitions for this place remain high, but they will be grounded in financial reality. Every pound entrusted to this Cathedral, whether through your giving, through grants, or through the generosity of our supporters, will be handled with the utmost care and accountability. You have my word on that, and the commitment of the whole Chapter.

Looking further ahead, we are beginning work on a Vision and Values Statement, and a Strategic Plan to accompany it. As we emerge from a period of considerable challenge and mark one hundred years of Cathedral life, the time is right to ask with fresh eyes: who are we, what do we believe, and where is God calling us next? This work will not be done behind closed doors. We will be inviting everyone, the congregation, the staff, the volunteers, the wider community of friends and supporters, to contribute; because a vision for this Cathedral must belong to all of us.

And at the heart of that vision will be the simplest and most profound statement of all: we are here to worship God, to share the Christian faith, and to be a prayerful and joyful people of God. That is our primary reason for being.

That is the thread that runs through one hundred years of this Cathedral’s life, and the foundation on which our Strategic Plan will be built. We are also committed to ensuring that this work sits well alongside the new Diocesan Vision; because this Cathedral is part of something larger, the Church of God in Lancashire, and our strategy must reflect and strengthen that shared calling.

The months that lie ahead carry with them both opportunity and responsibility. There are celebrations still to come, communities still to be reached, and a legacy to be shaped that will carry us confidently into our second century. I want every member of staff and every volunteer to know that their contribution to this Cathedral is seen, it is valued, and it matters.

The act of gathering as the people of God, of giving account of our stewardship, of entrusting responsibility to one another, is itself an act of faith. It is how the Church has sustained itself across centuries, and it is part of awe are still here, still worshipping, still praying, still serving faithfully, one hundred years on.

Thank you.

Revd. Canon Andrew Horsfall
Interim Dean of Blackburn

May 2026