Dudley Coates elected Vice President of Conference for 2006

Dudley Coates has been elected Vice President of the MethodistConference for 2006. Dudley will start his year of office when theConference meets in Edinburgh in 2006.

Dudley is a retired civil servant, ending his career as head of theEnvironment Group for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries andFood. Since retiring in 2001 he has been able to give even moretime to his work within the Church.

Dudley was a member of Conference from 1993- 2004. He has beenchair of Methodist Publishing House, is a member of the MethodistCouncil and the Strategy and Resources Committee, and is theMethodist Ecumenical Representative on the General Synod of theChurch of England.

'It's a delight and a great honour to be able to serve the Churchas Vice President of the Conference,' says Dudley. 'In my year Iwant to stress the importance of worship and the need constantly toboost its quality. I want to explore ecumenism, and to encouragegood government in both state and Church. And following on from myprofessional work, I want to continue to address environment issuesand rural affairs.'
Dudley is married with two adult daughters. His wife is the Rectorof a group of Church of England parishes near Dorchester. In hisfree time, Dudley is a keen singer and cyclist.