Yes, Peter, I admit I was simplifying.  People need to be near their families, and the urgency of that need varies, depending on multiple factors.

In the case of ordinands the diocese which supported them usually has first claim on their services once ordained.  I have only a general idea of the statistics, so I can't say if Durham is producing as many ordinands/new clergy as it ought to.  I'm aware that London and Oxford dioceses 'overproduce', and the availability of clergy from there compensates to some degree for weaknesses in other dioceses.

But the challenge to which Tom Wright refers exists at the incumbent level in a more intractable form than at the curacy level.  Luckily for the rest of us, the village parish in Wiltshire to which Tom Wright refers can only appoint one of its fine applicants, and the rest are left available for ministry elsewhere. 

I think the last thing the tougher areas for ministry need is people coming along with rosy ideas of what it's going to be like.  My experience is that those people come and go quickly and it looks good on their CV but they contribute little if nothing.  This is long term work and you need to know it can be very hard indeed.  Rewarding, of course, but I don't think Bishop Tom will get the right people with that rather unrealistic sounding description alone. 

My Diocese, Bradford, is actually doing rather well developing its own ordinands.  There's a right old revival going on when it comes to people wanting to be vicars.  Mind you, we do have our fair share of leafy areas!

By the way, Peter, if you listen carefully to the twang you should be able to detect that Sam is a Brit too.  A 'missionary' to Sydney Diocese and, by golly, don't they need it!

When I was six I moved from Surrey to Sunderland (and had my 7th birthday party on the beach at South Shields btw), and I've also lived in Hull as well as Sussex and Oxford, so I think I know a bit about moving north and south, and feel so much richer as a result (and now live in Paris which is even further south!).

When I worked for CPAS I sometimes looked through the register kept on behalf of various evangelical patronage Trustees. The form people filled in gave them (possibly foolishly) the option to indicate in which part of the country, and what kind of situation, people were willing to serve. I was horrified to see how few people were willing to live in the north or (even worse) serve in cities - where the bulk of the population lives. To my mind it really does call into question just what people understand by call if they close off so many options - options which could be incredibly rewarding.

I think there's more to it than that, Sam.

Speaking as an ordination candidate I hope I'm not afraid of hard work and  mission opportunity! I also like the North East of England and wouldn't be averse/ afraid of working there.

But I'll be in my 40's if/when my title is served, my parents and in-laws are not getting any younger, my friends and family are all here in the South so there's a strong "gravitational pull" against making the break and going 5-6 hours up the road - I know that's not a long way in Australia, Sam, but it is (literally & culturally) for us Brits.

I know Jesus said something about leaving friends & family for his sake, but to turn the question on its head - why is the North East not producing and retaining ordinands itself, and (beyond identifying the problem) what are the North Eastern dioceses doing to attract evangelical Southerners to consider the move?

The answer to Tom Wright's question, as he knows very well (he asked it for rhetorical purposes), is that the job in Wiltshire involves easier work in pleasanter surroundings.  It's comparatively recently that it has become usual to advertise jobs of this kind, and there are serious drawbacks to the practice.  Institutionally, we believe in the call to ordained ministry--but somehow we have made this into something which (we appear to suppose) works only at the most general level, when someone is selected for training.  There is a serious case to be made for developing a new method, better than the old, of calling a qualified cleric to a job which he or she ought to be doing:  i.e. offering him or her the job and talking him or her into taking it.

From Newswatch http://www.christianitymagazine.co.uk/features/copy%20of%200905%20tom%20wright.aspx

Feature in May edition of ‘Christianity’ Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright.‘Evangelicals are good at dying in the wrong ditch.'