New Dean appointed for Southwell Minster

A Channel Islander, who is currently the Archdeacon of Winchester and Vice Dean, is to be the new Dean of Nottinghamshire’s historic cathedral – Southwell Minster.

The Venerable John Guille has been appointed as Dean following the retirement of the Very Revd David Leaning last year. John Guille will follow in the footsteps of five cathedral provosts who have overseen the mission of the Minster in the last century.

He said: “I’m very excited about being appointed as Dean of the historic Minster within the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham where the sense of history and a deep desire for mission is clearly evident. I am looking forward to being part of this vibrant community and diocese.”

John Guille (57) has been Archdeacon for the past eight years, with responsibility for 193 churches and more than 80 clergy. He is also a Residentiary Canon at Winchester Cathedral, where he was acting dean for six months.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: John Guille will be visiting Southwell Minster on Friday, 9th March and will be available at 12noon for photographs and interviews.

The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, the Rt Revd George Cassidy, welcomed his appointment and said: “I am delighted that John has accepted my invitation to be the new Dean of Southwell Minster and I know I speak with the unanimous support of others who have helped me in this discernment process. John will bring to bear, in his new role and office, his considerable experience in parish life, as an Archdeacon and also as a Residentiary Canon and I very much look forward to him being a member of the leadership team in the diocese. I am also confident that The Minster community and the wider diocese will give John, Susan and the family the warmest possible welcome to the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. “

The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt, said: "I am delighted for Southwell Minster, my friend the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, and for his Diocese more widely, that Archdeacon John Guille has been appointed Dean of Southwell. But as much as it will be a wrench for him and his wife, Sue Guille, to leave Winchester and this Diocese, so I and we shall miss him and them very much indeed. So many of us have come to value him as a wise, clear headed, gracious and tenacious colleague."

The Dean of Winchester, the Very Revd James Atwell, said: "We are very excited for John and his family, though we will be sad to see him go. He has been very supportive and encouraging to me in my time as Dean over the last year. Through his role as Archdeacon of Winchester he has also shared Diocesan life and vision with the Cathedral. We all wish him well."

John Guille describes himself as passionate about networking with people both inside and outside the church. At Winchester Cathedral he was instrumental in helping to set-up the ice rink and Christmas market in front of the cathedral last year which helped attract hundreds of people, especially the young, who would not normally come into a church. 

John was brought up on the Island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands and is proud to date his family routes back to William the Conqueror! He left the islands as a student and trained as a Religious Studies teacher at Christ Church College, Canterbury. He went on to teach for three years before training for ordination at Salisbury and Wells Theological College. His first post was a curacy in the Parish of Chandler’s Ford – a large suburban parish between Winchester and Southampton, where he was also involved in local schools and hospital radio. He went on to spend the next nine years from 1980 to 1989 as Priest-in-Charge and then vicar at St John with St Michael in Bournemouth, where his parish included a full range of parishioners across the social spectrum, from urban priority to wealthy residential. While there, he was part-time school chaplain and helped to develop one of the churches for improved community use. In 1989 he returned to his native Guernsey as Rector of St Andre de la Pommeraye, where he spent 10 years and was able to help set up a new residential hospice and establish an ecumenical chaplaincy team. He chaired the group which set up an ecumenical retreat and conference centre for the Island called Les Cotils..

In 1999 he was appointed as Archdeacon. He helped establish a new process for managing parish vacancies and in his role as a cathedral canon, he has been a governor of the Pilgrims’ School, where he has been responsible for recent financial oversight of new building developments. John has also been chair of the Diocesan Retreat and Conference Centre, which is currently being totally refurbished and combined with the diocesan offices into a new multi-purpose centre. He been closely involved in developing the Winchester Cathedral’s links abroad with its twinned cathedrals in Norway and Florence. 

John is married to Susan, who he met while training to staff the Samaritan’s helpline. They have three grown-up children – Elizabeth, who is studying in Southampton; Rose, who is a teacher and Peter who is a student at Nottingham Trent University.

John describes his main hobbies as gardening, walking and exploring genealogy and general family history.

He will take up his new post on Saturday 8th September.2007

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