Ripon Cathedral will see a long-held dream come true when its education learning centre opens at the weekend - on Education Sunday.

The resource centre will be used by people from the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, including schools and youth groups.

Although detached from the cathedral - in the former administration offices - the centre will be very much a part of the minster.

The Dean of Ripon, the Very Reverend John Metheun, said the centre was the result of a partnership between the cathedral, diocesan board of education and North Yorkshire education authority.

He said that religious education was increasing both in significance and quality, and the centre would be a place for educators of all sorts, and clergy, where they would have access to a considerable amount of resources.

Teachers can visit the centre each weekday, from 4pm to 5.30pm, and at other times by arrangement.

The new centre will be opened by the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Right Reverend John Packer, after a choral evensong on Sunday, at 5.30pm.

Meanwhile, Ripon Cathedral is pressing ahead with its visitor and interpretation centre, at nearby Thorpe Prebend House. It is expected that this centre will play a crucial role in the cathedral's wider educational programme.

A date for its opening has yet to be announced