New Dean’s installation postponed due to lockdown

The new Dean of Gibraltar’s Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Diocese of Europe will be installed later this year, after the service initially set for today was postponed due to Covid-19.
Canon Ian Tarrant accepted the the offer to become the new Dean last December, but, due to coronavirus, the formal installation will now take place this October.
He arrived in Gibraltar on March 16, just days before restrictive social measures were implemented.
He told the Chronicle this has meant he has yet to meet key members of the parish who are currently isolating, and has turned to live streaming services.
Although the formal installation has been postponed, Canon Tarrant can hold services and continue his role, but instead under the title Bishop’s Commissary in Gibraltar.
Canon Tarrant commented on how quiet Gibraltar has been since his arrival and he has adhered to the lockdown by staying indoors, so he has yet to see much of his new home.
He added this year it will be a “challenge to celebrate Easter” due to the new social distancing regulations.
Canon Tarrant is live streaming services on Wednesdays and Sundays on YouTube and the streams can be found via a new website he has created: www.holytrinitygibraltar.org
He said that sorting out the live streaming and website in the short time since his arrival in Gibraltar had been a “steep learning curve”, but he will soon also begin streaming a series of talks from his house.
He also included video clips of seven members of the cathedral congregation introducing their favourite hymns.
“Many had never shared a video selfie before,” Canon Tarrant said.
“I was impressed with their learning new skills, as I have been learning new skills to set up the online services.”
Canon Tarrant studied physics at Cambridge University, and later trained for ordination at St John’s College, Nottingham. He married his wife Sally after studying together in Nottingham.
They spent 10 years working for the Church Missionary Society in the Congo, returning to Nottingham where he became the University Chaplain and where their children went to secondary school.
After 11 years they moved to the parish of Woodford in North-East London.
By the time he arrived in Gibraltar in mid-March, he had served as a Rector in London for 10 years.