Richard Ashcroft a limited number of appearances in 2003, Ashcroft was absent from the music business for about two years. He later explained this in 2006, stating that "[e]veryone got it into their heads over the last few years that I was in my ivory tower like Lennon, baking bread all day. The fact of the matter was that I was bringing up kids". Ashcroft began playing gigs again in mid-2005, and, on 2 July at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, Coldplay invited him to perform with them during their set. They performed The Verve's hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony", after
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