The Chapter of Truro Cathedral has announced that Alan Wallace who hails from Northern Ireland and who played a lead role in organising the last Lambeth Conference, has been appointed its new Chief Executive.
Alan joins the cathedral staff after eighteen months as Associate Pastor and Church Manager in Christchurch, New Zealand.
He has over 20 years experience in a variety of church roles, having originally trained for lay ministry at the Church Army’s College of Evangelism. His enjoyment of youth work and his experience at parish, deanery and diocesan levels led to a prestigious position as National Youth Officer for the Church Mission Society. In recent years Alan has also built up an Events Management business that has successfully delivered a number of high profile Christian events such as the Lambeth Conference, World Conferences for Young Anglicans, Action Against Hunger and working on the relaunch of the Bible Society.
Alan will be the second Ulsterman on the staff at Truro where the Organist and Director of Music is Christopher Gray. The position is one from which former organists have moved on to some of the most prestigious appointments in the UK. Christopher is the tenth organist of Truro Cathedral. Before him were G R Sinclair 1881-1890 (later organist of Hereford Cathedral), M J Monk 1890-1920, H S Middleton 1920-1926 (later organist of Ely Cathedral and Trinity College, Cambridge), John Dykes Bower 1926-1929 (later organist of New College, Oxford, Durham Cathedral and St Paul’s Cathedral), Guillaume Ormond 1929-1970, John Winter 1971-1988 (Organist Emeritus), David Briggs 1989-1994 (later organist of Gloucester Cathedral and now International Concert Organist) and Andrew Nethsingha 1994-2002 (now Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge), Robert Sharpe 2002-2008 (now Director of Music at York Minster).
The Priory Singers from Northern Ireland are currently in Truro singing the daily and Sunday services, deputising for the cathedral choir which is on holiday.