Members of the public across the diocese contributed their views to help define the qualities needed in the next Bishop of Oxford.

This feedback has informed a Statement of Needs, a document outlining the role, context, and opportunities, and desired qualities for the next bishop, and the character of the Diocese of Oxford.

Rev Canon Geoff Bayliss, chair of the Vacancy-in-See Committee, said: “Our Statement of Needs is the result of a huge amount of work by very many people and gives a wonderful picture of the life of our diocese.

“It was informed by the consultation to which over 2,500 people very generously contributed.”

The document will guide the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) in its search for potential candidates.

Following the completion of the Statement of Needs, the vacancy-in-see committee elected six representatives to serve on the CNC.

They will join six members from the wider Church of England to form the full commission, which is responsible for shortlisting candidates and recommending a nominee to the King and Downing Street.

The Diocese of Oxford covers Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire.

It has the largest number of churches of any diocese in the Church of England, with more than 800 churches in 609 parishes.

John Varley Roberts, one of Victorian England’s most celebrated choral trainers and organist of Magdalen College, Oxford, is the subject of a new book by music scholar Professor David Baker.

It shines a light on the musician’s impact on British church music, tracing a career that took Roberts from Halifax Parish Church in Yorkshire to national recognition.

Professor Baker, director of the Halifax Organ Academy and an accredited tutor with the Royal College of Organists, said: “Roberts’ influence was considerable and enduring at a time when church music was undergoing a significant transformation in Britain.

“He influenced generations of choristers, musicians, and choir directors, sitting alongside John Stainer and Walter Parratt as one of the greats of his generation.

“After becoming organist and choirmaster at Halifax Parish Church in 1868, he transformed music there.”

Roberts went on to become organist at Magdalen, where he served from 1883 to 1918.

During his tenure, the choir was regarded as the best in the country, and his compositions—40 anthems, four full services, organ solos, songs, part songs, and the cantata Jonah—were widely performed.

His anthem Seek ye the Lord remains popular internationally.

Professor Baker first learned of Roberts while studying at Cambridge University in 1968.

He said: “At the time I was organist at St Paul’s, Stanningley, Leeds.

“An elderly lady was a regular attender; she introduced herself as the niece of a famous choirmaster.

“I thought little of the encounter until 1972, when, for my dissertation, I was researching the music of Halifax Parish Church, discovering that Dr John Varley Roberts had been organist and choirmaster there, and the music had been second to none.

“I made the connection and sought out Edith Annie Roberts, the lady in question. As I walked into her front parlour, I saw a huge photograph hanging over the fireplace: Roberts in his Oxford DMus robes.”

Professor Baker said: “I was struck by how little remembered he was.

“Roberts was one of those forgotten Victorians who, in their day, had a considerable impact and influence on Victorian church music.”

Roberts’ music, aside from his most famous anthem, had fallen out of use—even at Magdalen College.

To mark the centenary of Roberts’ death in 2020, Professor Baker edited all of Roberts’ organ works for publication and encouraged his choirs to perform them.

He said: “They all enjoyed doing so, and it became clear that Roberts’ rise from an upper working-class background in mid-nineteenth-century Leeds deserved further study.”

The biography, John Varley Roberts and Religious Musical Life in Nineteenth-Century Britain, will be published by Taylor and Francis on April 21.

Professor Baker will host recitals and lectures to launch the book in both Halifax and Oxford later in the year.

Blenheim Palace has partnered with Heritage Interpreters and City Lit College to deliver the scheme, aiming to improve accessibility across the heritage sector.

The programme, launching in September this year, will train deaf individuals to lead BSL tours at major national attractions.

Heather Carter, managing director of visitor attraction at Blenheim Palace, said: “Despite successful training courses for deaf BSL guides, taught by deaf tutors in the past, the demand for training has always exceeded the supply and training has waned in the last decade.

“At Blenheim Palace we are committed to making our attraction and its history as accessible as possible, and this special partnership to create a programme to train more BSL deaf tour guides is a natural and vital progression for us.

“We are excited that other heritage attractions will then be able to share this valuable resource.”

The announcement follows pilot deaf-led BSL tours held in 2025 and 2026, led by John Wilson, a deaf BSL guide.

Applications for the programme will open in April via the Heritage Interpreters website.

Participants will receive professional training to deliver engaging, authentic tours in BSL, with the goal of expanding the network of deaf-led guides at heritage sites across the UK.