AS surprising as a Caddick straight six, the cricket-loving Bishop of Durham announced his retirement during the lunch interval of the Headingley Test on Saturday.

And from the moment his departure was revealed to Christopher Martin-Jenkins on Test Match Special, the tributes to the Right Reverend Michael Turnbull have been sincere and varied.

What shines through those tributes - from the Prime Minister to clergymen of different denominations - is Bishop Michael's precious ability to pull people together.

His organisational skills are rightly mentioned but it is the warmth of his personality which has done most to secure the bridges that needed to be built when he came our way at a hugely challenging time for the Church of England in 1994.

"Utterly brilliant" when others sought help in solving problems, he also proved effective at enabling Anglicans and Methodists to work more closely together.

Those qualities were evident, of course, when they enabled him to overcome the initial scandal which marred the early days of his tenure. When lesser men would have buckled, Bishop Michael demonstrated right from the start of his tenure that he had a talent for winning people over with humility and honesty.

Whether he has really won over the people of the North-East when it comes to regional government remains to be seen.

Some argue that perhaps he has spent too much time and energy on that particular debate, at the expense of pastoral matters, but he has certainly given the "voice for the North" campaign an independent credibilty which it could not have done without.

If the people of the North-East do vote for regional government "in three or four years" - as he clearly expects them to - Bishop Michael will be able to look north and reflect with a deep sense of satisfaction on the contribution he made as chairman of the North-East Constitutional Convention.

It will be another example, among many others, of how he played a captain's innings during his nine years in the North-East