Kentish Express Ashford & District
American football fan is town’s new archdeacon
A new Archdeacon of Ashford has been appointed.
Canon Darren Miller will take on duties from the Ven Philip Down, who is retiring next month.
He is taking on the senior position within the Canterbury Diocese after moving from his role as team rector for Cheam Parish in Surrey and is an honorary Canon at Southwark Cathedral.
Mr Miller is married to Sue and they have two young children. He grew up is Essex before he studied policy making and administration at the University of Birmingham. He is a big fan of American football.
He trained for an ordained ministry at Chichester Theological College and at the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield, in Yorkshire.
He said: “I am excited and honoured to be joining the Diocese of Canterbury as Archdeacon of Ashford.
“This is a time of change and renewal for the Church and I am looking forward to working with the people of such a wide variety of churches as they work together to serve God and the people of south and east Kent.
“I am also looking forward to getting to know this part of the country a little better, not least because it is where many of my wife’s family come from.”
The Archdeacon of Ashford is responsible for the Deaneries of Ashford, Dover, Romney and Tenterden, Elham and Sandwich and will support the clergy and communities.
His appointment has been welcomed by the Rt Rev Trevor Will- mott, the Bishop of Dover, who said: “I am delighted that Darren will be joining the senior team here in Canterbury and I’m confident that he will be a huge asset to both the Diocese as a whole and to the local churches he will be working with.”