Alan Chesters (bishop)

The Right Reverend Alan David Chesters, CBE, was Bishop of Blackburn 1989-2003.

Alan Chesters was born on 26 August 1937, the son of Herbert and Catherine Chesters, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

He was educated at Elland Grammar School, St Chad's College, University of Durham (BA 1959), St Catherine's Society, Oxford (BA 1961, MA 1965), and
St Stephen's House, Oxford (1959-62).

He was ordained deacon in 1962, priest in 1963, and bishop in 1989.

He served as assistant curate of Wandsworth St Anne 1962-65. He then became chaplain of Tiffin School (1966-72), a post that he soon combined with that of honorary assistant curate of Ham St Richard (1967-72). Returning to the north of England, where he was to spend the rest of his ecclesiastical career, he became director of education for the Diocese of Durham and rector of Brancepeth (1972-85). He was an honorary canon of Durham Cathedral from 1975 until 1984. In 1985 he was appointed archdeacon of Halifax in the Diocese of Wakefield. In 1989 the Queen appointed him Bishop of Blackburn on the advice of the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He took his seat in the House of Lords in 1995. He retired in 2003 and became honorary assistant bishop in the dioceses of Chester and Gibraltar in Europe.

Chesters was a Church Commissioner from 1982 until 1998. He was first elected to the General Synod in 1975. He was a member of its standing committee 1985-89 and 1990-95 and served as Vice Chairman (1984-90), and later Chairman, of the Board of Education "Distinctive or Divisive? The Role of Church Schools." , Bishop of Blackburn: King's College London, Hertford. Hockerill Educational Foundation 2001 ] . and Chairman of the Schools Committee.

His involvement in Anglican education continued as he became a member of the board of governors of his old college at Durham, St Chad's (1980-89), and chairman of the board of governors of St Martin's College (1991-2003). In 2003 he was appointed to St Martin's College's first honorary fellowship. He has also been chairman of the Higher Education Funding Council for England Advisory Committee on Church Colleges and president of the Woodard Corporation.

Chesters was a member of the Countryside Commission and chairman of the North-West Rural Affairs Forum. In the New Year Honours List 2007 he was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to the community in the North-West.

ources and further information

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1841703.stm Bishop dices with casino future, "BBC News" (26 February 2002)]
* [http://www.ucsm.ac.uk/about/news/2003/honorary-fellowship.php SMC awards Honorary Fellowship to Bishop of Blackburn (15 January 2004)]
* [http://www.tfccinternational.com/public/department36.cfm Trinity Foundation for Christianity and Culture]
* [http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=31483 Glyn Paflin, Honours for work with children and families, "Church Times"]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6217257.stm Gerrard and Hatton head honours, "BBC News" (30 December 2006)]
*"Debrett's People of Today"
*"Crockford's Clerical Directory"