As the Mother Church of the Anglican Communion and a site of Christian worship for over 1400 years, Canterbury Cathedral is both a special and sacred place and an iconic heritage location with World Heritage status. Worshippers, pilgrims and visitors come to Canterbury from all over the world and, as the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, it has over the centuries been the home of many events of national and international significance. At its heart, however, Canterbury Cathedral is a working church with a daily cycle of prayer and worship. While greatly impacted by the Covid pandemic, particularly financially, the Cathedral has developed new ways of reaching people, especially with online worship, and is confident that the measures it took to survive the crisis will ensure that it thrives again in the future.

The Chapter, with the Dean as Chair, is the Cathedral's governing board; it has a number of sub-committees which oversee various specialist areas (such as Finance, Audit and Remuneration). After an extensive review of the governance of cathedrals, Canterbury Cathedral will become a full charity in early 2022 (under the Cathedral's Measure 2021). This will require some changes to its governance and operational management, one of the first being an increase to the number of non-exec members in Chapter.

We are currently seeking two new members to join Chapter in autumn 2021 and to help to guide and support the Cathedral through its early days as a charity and beyond. These roles offer the opportunity to be a key part in the decisions and governance at the Cathedral across its primary activities, including worship, pilgrimage, heritage visits and conservation, the arts, retail, hospitality and fundraising.

The Cathedral is committed to being an inclusive organisation and one of our key ambitions is to increase the diversity of Chapter. Candidates must be able to demonstrate an excellent understanding of, and commitment to, the purpose and ethos of this Cathedral community within the Christian world. They must have proven experience of the principles and expectations of a charity trustee, while bringing their own particular background to contribute to the Chapters work. While not specifying particular skill requirements for these positions, a good grounding in charity governance, legal frameworks, strategic and financial planning, marketing or senior management would greatly add to the Chapters overall mix of skills.

Once the Cathedral becomes a charity, Chapter expects to meet formally 6 times per year and members will often also hold a position on one or more of its committees. There are a number of major services and other events during the year; Chapter members are welcome, and expected, to attend at least some of these to assist in their understanding of the life of the Cathedral. Safeguarding is a very important part of the Cathedral's work, and Chapter members are required to undertake training in this area.

In keeping with the Cathedral's charitable status, non-exec Chapter members will be charity trustees and therefore unremunerated (except for reasonable travel expenses). These appointments will initially be for 4 years, renewable for a further 4 years by mutual agreement.

As a Voluntary position, this will be non-remunerated.

Candidates should apply by 24 Sep 21 with their CV and a covering letter explaining why they wish to join Canterbury Cathedral's Chapter and how they feel that they could contribute to it as it moves into a new era of its long history.

Candidates with specific queries relating to this opportunity are invited to contact the Receiver General via the PA to the Receiver General at daisy.davis@canterbury-cathedral.org