New vicar takes up Ryedale role (From Gazette & Herald)

New vicar takes up Ryedale role

A FORMER headmaster who became a clergyman has opted to spend the last years of his career in Ryedale after serving his ministry in various other parts of the country.

The Rev Michael Cartwright has been inducted as the new Vicar of Ampleforth, Gilling East, Oswaldkirk and Stonegrave Minster, after moving to the united benefice from the fishing and holiday village of Flamborough.

Ordained in Peterborough Cathedral in 1983, Staffordshire-born Mr Cartwright was a curate at Kettering parish church in Northamptonshire, and later deputy head of a rural school in Suffolk and head of Barnwell School on the Duke of Gloucester's estate.

His other posts included chaplain and head of the junior department of Northaw preparatory school near Salisbury, before going into the ministry full-time.

He and his wife Jo spent ten years in a parish at Bodmin Moor in Cornwall before moving to Flamborough.

Among the packed congregation at his induction by The Bishop of Whitby, the Rt Rev Robert Ladds, were members of the Flamborough lifeboat crew, with whom he had worked closely.

Mrs Cartwright, who has spent several years as a nursing sister, is a keen gardener. "With an acre of garden at our new home, we shall certainly be kept busy!" said Mr Cartwright.

His hobby is playing the oboe and he trained at the Royal College of Music to become a professional musician and taught the instrument for a number of years.

Mr Cartwright was presented at his induction by Dr Arnold Brown, the Dean of Trinity College.

Updated: 16:38 Wednesday, March 26, 2003