Archbishop praises city community

Thousands attended a Eucharist service outside Exeter Cathedral

The Archbishop of Canterbury has praised the vibrancy of the church in a Devon city.

More than 5,000 people were in Exeter over the weekend to mark the 1,100th anniversary of the Diocese of Exeter.

Anglican Primate Dr Rowan Williams led a service of the Eucharist at a special Songs of Praise outside the city's cathedral on Saturday evening.

He said that a number of events over the weekend were "hugely encouraging" and showed a strong church community.

He said: "The church is definitely alive and well here, and the church is reaching out very imaginatively to young people.

"Last night [Friday] there was the night church experience - very noisy, very active, but also with a quiet service at the end with a lot of people sitting around praying quietly and very deeply.

"I think there's huge potential here and many, many signs of hope and life."