The new Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams will be in North Yorkshire on Saturday and Sunday and large congregations are expected at his services.

Dr Williams will lecture and preach across the county as he celebrates a special anniversary at Holy Rood House at Sowerby, near Thirsk.

The Anglican leader will be spending the weekend at the Christian Centre where he will hold a workshop in the work carried out there and preach at local churches.

Dr Williams has a long association with Holy Rood House where he became a consultant on its opening in 1993 and last stayed there in 1996.

Dr Williams will be at Holy Rood House

But it will be Dr Williams' sermon at nearby St Mary's Church in Thirsk on Sunday which is expected to draw a huge congregation.

Already three other churches have cancelled their own morning services to allow parishoners to attend St Mary's Chruch.