TWELVE new deacons have been ordained at Salisbury Cathedral.

The Bishop of Salisbury Nicholas Holtam presided over the service, assisted by the Bishops of Ramsbury and Sherborne, on September 29.

Rev Clare Herbert, a lecturer in inclusive theology from Bishop Holtam’s previous parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, preached a sermon on Jesus washing his disciples’ feet.

Highlights of the service included all three bishops washing the feet of the deacons during the service, before the Rev Ruth Gillings, appointed as curate to Atworth with Shaw and Whitley in Wiltshire, left on a motorbike.

The Rev Wendy Cooper was appointed curate to Sarum St Thomas and St Edmund in Salisbury and Rev Alice Goodall was appointed curate to St Bartholomew, the Donheads.