The Bishop of Truro, the Rt Revd Tim Thornton, assisted by the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt Revd Roy Screech, will ordain 13 men and women as Deacons at a special service of Ordination in Truro Cathedral on Saturday.

The service, which begins at 10.30am is a rich mixture of tradition and ceremony, in which the Bishops lay hands on the heads of those called, and ask for God's blessing. For the third year in succession, numbers coming forward for ordination have increased.

The congregation will include large numbers of people drawn from the parishes in which the new Deacons will serve, who come to support the local candidate who has undergone a long period of training and preparation.

Deacons usually serve for at least a year in a parish, usually as a Curate, before the Bishop ordains them as priests. The Bishops always ordain priests in the parishes in which they will serve, and in the week following Saturday's service at the Cathedral, one or other of the Bishops will visit twelve parishes ordaining 12 new priests to serve there.

The new Deacons who will serve locally include: George Darby to serve in the parishes of Egloskerry, North Petherwin, Tremaine and Tresmere and Trewen; Jonathan Mosedale to serve in the parishes of St Minver with St Enodoc and St Michael Rock, St Endellion, Port Isaac and St Kew and Mary Williamson to serve in the parish of Launceston.

Those to be ordained priest, with the parish in which the ordination will take place include: The Revd Michael Parsons at Minster, on Sunday at 10.30am; The Revd James Rugg at Week St Mary on Sunday 3.30pm; The Revd Richard Ward-Smith at Week St Mary on Sunday at 3.30pm; The Revd John Henry Barfoot at Tintagel, on Monday at 7pm.