Last week the Bishop visited...

Last Sunday, our parish was visited by Bishop Jonathan and his wife Kerry. He is a really lovely man who genuinely takes an interest in the people he meets. Kerry is an artist  and very creative...she would have been pleased to see that in the St James church the quite ugly carpet had gone. It was a long standing joke  that Kerry would offer suggestions of what we should replace the carpet with. Budgetry requirements meant it stayed for many years until fairly recently it was removed when the floors were re-sanded .

The bishop preached at both churches and at the end of the service, Suzanne, Greg and Dianne, the wardens, announced our new priest. Our new priest starts in February and his name is Bruce Boase. The wardens said as soon as they met him for the interview, they knew he was special. So it is an exciting time for our parish. With the wonders of technology, Greg told us that Father Bruce is featured on a You Tube video here. Father Bruce talks on the video about being an Anglican and an Indigenous Australian; a man of great faith.
Then at noon was the best part of the visit...lunch in St John's hall. I reckon church halls all have a similar look don't they? lol

People gathering ready for lunch

The youngest member of the parish checks things out at floor level

Bishop Jonathan

My photo of others taking photos!

Marge, the lady holding the red napkin, is the person who bought my 'Over Hill and Dale' throw; she came over to my table to tell me how much pleasure she has from it :-)

I couldn't resist digging out this old photo below. Carmen and I were dressed in special robes that were usually worn by the male LAs or even the altar boys but not female lay people. Below this photo is one taken last Sunday.

Myself and Carmen in the early 1990s dressed ready to serve as LAs

And this is us in 2011!