Handford was made a deacon at
Michaelmas in 1963 (22 September), by
Morris Gelsthorpe, Assistant Bishop of Southwell, and ordained a priest at the
Trinity Sunday following (24 May 1964), by
Gordon Savage,
Bishop of Southwell, both times at
Southwell Minster. He then began his ministry as an
assistant curate at
St Peter and St Paul's Church, Mansfield in the
Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham between 1963 and 1967. In 1967, Handford started what was to be a long association with the
Middle East. He was a
chaplain in
Baghdad, Iraq, in 1967, followed by six years as a chaplain in
Beirut,
Lebanon. He then served as
Dean of
St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem from 1974 to 1978. He was then
translated to the Mediterranean
Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf where he served the
Anglican Community until retirement in 2007. During much of that time, he served as
Presiding Bishop of the
Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East. In retirement, he still maintains his links with the church and serves as an honorary assistant bishop in the
Diocese of Ripon and Leeds. ==References==