ON EACH Sunday during Lent, the Bishop of
Portsmouth, the Rt Revd Christopher Foster,
crossed to the Isle of Wight to visit different churches each
morning and afternoon. In the mornings, he presided and preached at
a eucharist, and then walked with a group of fellow pilgrims to
another church in the same area for the afternoon service, where
the theme of his preaching each time was to encourage people to
focus less on their own personal needs, and more on what God was
calling them to do.
Over six Sundays, he covered as wide an area of the island as he
could. On Palm Sunday, he walked from Whitwell to Bonchurch via the
Isle of Wight donkey sanctuary, where worshippers joined him to
remember Jesus's entry into Jerusalem.
Then, accompanied by the Archdeacon of the Isle of Wight, the
Ven. Peter Sutton (right), who had helped to organise the
visits, and the Vicar of St Catherine's and Holy Trinity, Ventor
and Bonchurch, the Revd Hugh Wright, he went to the highest point
of the island at Bonchurch Down (above).