'Bishop Bill' sets date to quit

Bishop Ind said two TV series had helped the Church

The Bishop of Truro, the Right Reverend Bill Ind, is to step down at Easter next year.

"Bishop Bill" as he likes to be known, has been in charge of the diocese which covers Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and two Devon parishes since 1997.

He will be 66 on 26 March 2008 and said he thought that was a good age at which to retire.

Easter Day will be his last working day as bishop and his retirement will take effect on 30 April.

He said: "By the autumn I shall have been married for 40 years.

I would not want to be anywhere else Right Reverend Bill Ind

"For 40 years I have been a priest, and for 20 years a bishop, and to be here in Cornwall, celebrating all these things is something for which I am profoundly grateful and thankful.

"I would not want to be anywhere else."

"Bishop Bill" came to Truro after having previously been Suffragan Bishop of Grantham in Lincolnshire.

He served curacies in the Diocese of London before being appointed Team Vicar of Basingstoke, building up a reputation as a pastor with a keen sense of humour, which has never left him.

He has become widely known in recent years through his appearance in the BBC TV series featuring the work of parish clergy, first in Boscastle, Seaside Parish, and currently in the Isles of Scilly, in Island Parish.