ONE of Selby's most prominent clergymen has announced his retirement after a career spanning 39 years and two continents.

The Right Reverend Humphrey Vincent Taylor will retire from his post as Suffragan Bishop of Selby in March next year.

He was appointed to his Selby role in 1991 after a brief spell in the Diocese of Southwark, south London and three years as the Honorary Canon of Bristol Cathedral.

The bishop, 64, who lives in Precentor's Court, near York Minster, was made a deacon in 1963 and a priest in 1964. Between 1967 and 1971 he was Rector of Lilongwe, in Malawi, before becoming chaplain of Bishop Grosseteste College, Lincoln.

He spent five years from 1975 as the secretary for Chaplaincies in Higher Education and on the General Synod Board of Education. He was the secretary of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel from 1980 to 1984 and USPG general secretary from 1980 to 1991. A service of farewell, which will be attended by the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, has been arranged for 11.30am on Saturday, February 1, 2003, at Selby Abbey.

Updated: 14:58 Friday, March 08, 2002