Bishop's move westward announced

The new bishop will be officially welcomed in January 2009

The new Bishop of Truro has been named as the Rt Revd Tim Thornton, the current Bishop of Sherborne in Dorset.

He is the 15th clergyman to hold the post and replaces Bishop Bill Ind, who stepped down at Easter after 11 years.

The diocese of Truro covers Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and two Devon parishes.

The new bishop, who is 51, will be officially welcomed to the post at a service at Truro Cathedral in January 2009.

The people of Cornwall will warm to him immediately Bishop Bill Ind, predecessor

His predecessor, "Bishop Bill", as he likes to be known, has welcomed the news of his replacement: "Tim is very much a man after my own heart.

"The people of Cornwall will warm to him immediately, for he believes in a gospel accessible to all; he is an experienced, sensible bishop and a first rate communicator."

Revd Thornton is married to Sian, a head teacher. They have two adult children.

He was educated in Plymouth and went to Southampton University before training for the ministry in Oxford.

He has been a university chaplain and chaplain to the Bishop of London.

He was consecrated as a bishop in 2001.