Swindon's my kind of town (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Swindon's my kind of town

Reverend Dr Lee RayfieldSWINDON... AND PROUD OF IT: SWINDON'S new bishop has hit out at the bullies who mock our town saying their claims are 'ridiculous'.

In an interview with the Advertiser, the Right Reverend Dr Lee Rayfield said some people did not appreciate what they had.

"Swindon has got an awful lot going for it,"he said.

"It feels like a town on the up, people are living comfortably and earnings are above average. It's a town that's done well."

He also rubbished recent claims by fashion guru Wayne Heming-way that the town's estates were worse than Strangeways Prison.

"It is a ridiculous statement to make about Swindon, or indeed about any town," said the Rev Rayfield.

At his consecration ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral, in London tomorrow Dr Rayfield, who is currently the Area Dean of Maiden-head and Windsor, will officially become the town's new bishop.

"I am excited about the new role," he said.

"The only thing mitigating it at the moment is all the packing and sorting out that goes with moving house."

He will be moving to Swindon this month, while the rest of his family wife Liz, 49, and three children Matt, 21, Simon, 18, and Louise, 14, will move during the school summer holidays. Simon is currently working for A-levels.

"I have already been to the town several times since the announcement that I would be becoming Bishop," said Dr Rayfield. "But I don't like doing research on a town before I get there.

"I like to get out and meet the people and hear what they are saying."

Dr Rayfield says the church is facing challenging times, not just in Swindon but nationwide.

Previously, he has said that levels of stress, debt, relationship breakdown and teenage pregnancies were at incredible levels across the UK.

He says the Christian message needs to be embraced because of the effect on people's lives and the community.

"The churches are all changing at a huge rate and, living in a modern world, a lot of people question how the story of Christ, relates to modern life so the church has to adapt with them in different ways," he said.

In 2002 he came to the attention of the world's press when he told children it was scientifically impossible for Santa Claus to exist

"I made a mistake, it shows I am human," he said.

His new role will keep him busy, but the Bishop aims to keep up his other interests, most notably genetics, and he will continue to sit on the Government's UK Gene Therapy Advisory Committee. This advises the Government on clinical research in the field of gene therapy.

As Bishop Dr Rayfield replaces the Right Rev Michael Doe, who is now the director of the United Society For The Propagation Of The Gospel.

Anthony Osborne