THE new Bishop of Southampton today officially takes up his new title of Right Reverend after he is commissioned in a ceremony at Winchester Cathedral.

This comes after the Rev Canon Jonathan Frost was consecrated at St Paul’s Cathedral at a service on Tuesday led by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Rowan Williams.

During the service Canon Jonathan was presented to the Archbishop by the Bishop of Winchester and the Bishop of Guildford to be ordained and consecrated to the office of bishop.

More than 750 people, including priests and parishioners from Hamp-shire and Surrey, joined him at the ceremony in London.

Those attending included a teacher from the bishop’s schooldays and representatives from some of the other faiths with whom he had worked as an interfaith advisor in the Diocese of Guildford.

A group of students also came up from the University of Surrey where he was the co-ordinating chaplain.

The Rt Rev Frost said: “It was a memorable and moving service and I am especially grateful to the large number of friends and supporters from both Winch-ester and Guildford dioceses who managed to get to St Paul’s in difficult weather conditions. To see the line of well-wishers spanning the length of the cathedral nave was both humbling and inspiring.”

The service included the Royal Mandate from the Queen.

Today representatives from across Hampshire, east Dorset and the Channel Islands were coming to Winchester Cathedral to hear the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, commission Bishop Jonathan and officially welcome him to the Diocese of Winchester.

In his new role as a suffragan bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Winchester, the Rt Rev Frost will form a key member of the Bishop of Winchester’s team, with responsibilities stretching across Southampton, East-leigh, the New Forest, Bournemouth and Christchurch.

He moves to the Diocese with his wife Christine and their three children.

The Rt Rev Frost, 45, grew up in Surrey and previously served as a Residentiary Canon of Guildford Cathed-ral for eight years.

He said: “I feel honoured to have been called to serve as Bishop of Southampton in the Diocese of Winchester. I am drawn to the rich variety of contexts represented in an area which embraces coastal, urban, town and rural communities.”