A service was held on Sunday to welcome the Right Rev Debbie Sellin as the new bishop of Peterborough.

Her diocese includes Northamptonshire and Rutland as well as parts of Cambridgeshire.

She said she would spend her first few months meeting people across the area.

The Right Rev Sellin was installed as the 39th bishop of the city at a service conducted by the archdeacon of Canterbury at Peterborough Cathedral.  

The service started with the new Bishop banging on the door of the Cathedral and being greeted by children from several  church schools. The Dean then sprinkled the Right Rev Sellin with water as a reminder of the baptism in which all Christians are called to share.  

The formal aspects of the service included the reading of the Archbishop’s mandate and legal transferring of responsibility for the Diocese.

Oaths were made to the King and to be a ‘faithful pastor to the clergy and people of this diocese’ holding a Bible used at Peterborough Abbey in the 13th Century. 

Throughout the service, music was performed by the City Praise Worship Band, the children’s choir from Kingsthorpe C of E School and the Peterborough Cathedral Choirs.