A road outside St John’s Cathedral in Portsmouth has been re-named Bishop Crispian Way in honour of the city’s bishop.
Bishop
Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth, who is nearing retirement after 22 years
as bishop, was surprised to be shown the new sign yesterday by the
leader of Portsmouth City Council, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson.
He
said: “I am overwhelmed by the honour that is being done to me by the
renaming of what I might call our section of Edinburgh Road. As far as I
know, no such honour has been done to any of my predecessors and I am
still at a little bit of a loss to know what I have done to deserve this
honour."
“I have now lived in the city of Portsmouth for nearly 23
years and I have come to love it as my home. I have always tried to
engage myself in the life of the wider community of the city and when
the time comes for me to leave, I will do so with great sadness."
“But
I don’t want to dwell on that today. Suffice it to say that I thank the
leader of the council and his colleagues for the honour that they do me
and the honour that they do to the whole diocese at the heart of which
is our great city of Portsmouth.”