THE Ven Dr David Thomson, currently Archdeacon of Carlisle, has been appointed as the next Bishop of Huntingdon, it was announced today. He has wide parish experience in both urban and rural areas. Born into a vicarage family in Sunderland, Dr Thomson

THE Ven Dr David Thomson, currently Archdeacon of Carlisle, has been appointed as the next Bishop of Huntingdon, it was announced today. He has wide parish experience in both urban and rural areas.

Born into a vicarage family in Sunderland, Dr Thomson grew up in Sheffield when the major employer was the steelworks. He met his wife Jean when they were both at school there and a teenage romance grew up which eventually led to their marriage. They have four children.

He studied at Oxford and completed his doctorate which examined how English was used to teach Latin in the time of the time of the Wars of the Roses and the Black Death. After graduating he taught at a college of education before coming to Cambridge to read Theology and train for the Christian ministry at Selwyn College and Westcott House.

He was appointed Curate in the mining town of Maltby, Yorkshire, before joining the Banbury Team Ministry in Oxfordshire, where he was responsible for a huge area with new housing developments. A highlight was the planting of two new church communities, one a shared project bringing together Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Brethren. He then went on to serve as Rector in the gem market-town of Cockermouth in Cumbria. In 2002, he became Archdeacon of Carlisle and Cathedral Canon.

He has published a series of devotional books, the latest, Ways to Pray, was published last year. His hobbies include gardening, exploring the countryside and its antiquities, walking and doing the crossword.

"The family are very excited at the prospect of coming to Cambridgeshire," he said. "Both Jean and I are looking forward immensely to getting know many new friends and colleagues."

The Diocese of Ely is one of 44 dioceses of the Church of England. It has a population of 641,000 and comprises a group of some 300 parishes under the pastoral and administrative care of the diocesan bishop, the Bishop of Ely.

The diocese covers the county of Cambridgeshire (except for three parishes in the south which are in the diocese of Chelmsford); together with the western quarter of Norfolk, a few parishes in Peterborough and in Essex and one in Bedfordshire.