Hattie Williams

1 day ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Hattie Williams

THE public are more likely to recognise “Give us this day our daily bread” as being from the Lord’s Prayer than “To be, or not to be” as being from Hamlet, a new poll suggests. The online survey of 2035 UK adults, conducted by Savanta between 23 and 26 May, was commissioned by the Church of England to mark the Pentecost prayer initiative Thy Kingdom Come, which has been running for ten years (News, 30 May).

3 days ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Hattie Williams

THE Government’s decision to extend free school meals to all children whose parents receive Universal Credit has been warmly welcomed by the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, and the Children’s Society. An announcement from the Department for Education on Wednesday evening confirmed that, from September 2026 — the start of the school year — every pupil whose household is on Universal Credit, regardless of income, will be eligible for free school meals.

1 week ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Hattie Williams

THE musician Anna Lapwood has been named as the first resident Organist of the Royal Albert Hall (RAH). Ms Lapwood stepped down as the director of music at Pembroke College, Cambridge, earlier this year to focus on her career as a concert organist. She had joined Pembroke in September 2016 after graduating from Magdalen College, Oxford, where she was its first female organ scholar. She was an RAH Associate Artist from 2022 to 2025.

1 week ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Muriel Porter |Hattie Williams

THE Suffragan Bishop of Islington in the diocese of London, Dr Richard (Ric) Thorpe, is to be the next Archbishop of Melbourne in the Anglican Church of Australia. He succeeds the Rt Revd Philip Freier, who retired in February. Dr Thorpe was elected by Melbourne Diocesan Synod on Friday. He and three other candidates were proposed to the Synod by the Board of Nominators, made up of elected clergy and lay representatives (News, 16 May).

2 weeks ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Hattie Williams

NEARLY three million food parcels were handed out by the foodbank charity Trussell in the year to March — almost one million more than five years previously. Figures released by the charity on Wednesday of last week show that one million of the 2.885 million parcels delivered between April 2024 and March 2025 were for children — a 51 per cent increase on 2019/20. About one third (32 per cent) were for under-fives.