Richard Ashcroft and then attended Winstanley College, where he met Nick McCabe. His teachers referred to him as "the cancer of the class", though one member of staff recalled him being "incredibly intelligent". Ashcroft was an avid football player, playing junior football for Wigan Athletic. For some time Ashcroft wanted to be a professional football player, idolising George Best, but as he grew older he lost interest in this, turning to music instead. Ashcroft formed The Verve (originally just Verve) in 1990 with McCabe, Jones, and Salisbury. The band signed to Hut Records and became well known for their appetite for both
Mark Ashcroft next Bishop of Bolton, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Manchester. He was consecrated a bishop on 18 October 2016 by John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, during a service at York Minster. Ashcroft is married to Sally. Together, they had three sons. Mark Ashcroft Mark David Ashcroft (born 3 September 1954) is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2016, he has been the Bishop of Bolton. He had previously been Archdeacon of Manchester from 2009 to 2016. Apart from ten years working in Kenya, he has spent all his ordained ministry in the Diocese of Manchester, Church of England. Ashcroft