A PIECE of Church history will be made on Sunday - with the appointment of Ripon Cathedral's first non-Anglican canon.

Methodist minister the Reverend David Wilkes, the Chaplain-General of HM Land Forces, will be licensed as an honorary ecumenical canon.

He will be installed by the Reverend Canon Michael Glanville-Smith, on behalf of the Cathedral Chapter.

Mr Wilkes, 57, will be the first Methodist minister to be installed in the cathedral, following the retirement of the Venerable John Blackburn - the previous Chaplain General to HM Land Forces.

Mr Wilkes, based at the Royal Army Chaplains' Department in Upavon, Wiltshire, was ordained in June 1976 and served for three years as a Territorial Army chaplain before being commissioned into the Royal Army Chaplains' Department as a Regular Army chaplain in 1980.

He said: "I regard this as a significant appointment and look forward to developing the links between the Royal Army Chaplains' Department and Ripon Cathedral."

Sunday's service comes at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which runs from Tuesday until January 25.

Canon Glanville-Smith said: "It is a significant event in the life of the diocese and the cathedral because it demonstrates the growing covenant partnership between Anglicans and Methodists which is unfolding at this time."

The appointment also forges the close links that Ripon Cathedral has with the Armed Forces.

Cathedral Canon Keith Punshon said: "Ripon Cathedral serves Catterick Garrison, the largest Army base in Western Europe.

"Soldiers in danger don't ask a padre what church he belongs to, and the Army regularly swaps padres of different denominations around in their demanding work."