DIY SOS: Church community supports disabled teenager
AN EPISODE of the the BBC1 programme DIY SOS (above) will show parishioners of a church in the village of Freckleton, Lancashire, come together to transform the home of a severely disabled teenager, Daniel Flemen. Mr Flemen had a life-saving operation to remove a brain tumour when he was 13, but it left him disabled and unable to return home. Now, aged 16, after living on a respiratory ward in Manchester, he has been able to move to his newly adapted family home. Works undertaken by Nick Knowles, the presenter, and volunteers were completed on 24 July. The Vicar of Holy Trinity, Freckleton, the Revd Tracy Swindells, said: “What an amazing community we live in.” The episode will be broadcast next year.
Bishop of Fulham apologises to choir
THE Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker, who went on stage in a dressing gown to shut down the City Academy Voices Choir’s special summer concert (Quotes, 1 August), has apologised “unreservedly” for the “hurt and distress” that he caused. Bishop Baker described their singing as a “terrible racket” and ordered them to leave St Andrew’s, Holborn, in a video that went viral after it was posted to social media on 26 July.
Peace vigil organised by Scotland’s Christian Churches
ON THE 80th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, representatives of the Church of Scotland, the Catholic Church, Scottish Episcopal Church, Quakers, the Iona Community, the United Reformed Church, and 145 other people of faith attended a peace vigil at HM Naval Base on the Clyde (commonly known as Faslane) to call for a world free of nuclear weapons. The “No To Nuclear Weapons” gathering was held on Monday at the south gate of the base and was organised by Justice and Peace Scotland.
Canon awarded Cross of St Augustine
CANON Ian Woodward was presented by the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Stephen Lake, with the Cross of St Augustine for Services to the Anglican Communion. The ceremony was held at evensong in Salisbury Cathedral last month (right). He was commended for his 25 years’ work building relationships with the Church of Sudan and South Sudan.
Appointment of Churches Conservation Trust members
THE Bishop of Ramsbury, Dr Andrew Rumsey, and the Canon for Congregational Discipleship and Nurture at York Minster, the Revd Timothy Goode, have been appointed to the board of trustees of the Churches Conservation Trust. The other new trustees are: Dr Ingrid Samuel, a former civil servant; Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, a former political secretary to the Prime Minister; Michael Bithell, a former Group Finance Director of United Westminster and Grey Coat Foundation; and Vivienne King, the founder of Impactful Places, an independent sustainability consultancy.