St Clement, Higher Openshaw

The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd. Nigel McCulloch visited the parish of St Clement, Higher Openshaw on a Tuesday evening in November 2008 and saw at first hand the first phase of the new East Manchester regeneration area.

After prayers in the church lounge, the bishop took a tour of the parish, meeting staff from Lovells Construction, at work on new housing, and visiting Openshaw's community church, part of the Eden Project, at the Salvation Army.

The bishop also visited Sporting Edge and met local youngsters using the IT suite. All the facilities are well used by a number of local youth clubs and groups.

At St Clement Court, sheltered accommodation built on the former site of St Clement's Primary School, the bishop chatted to three parishioners in the flat of another St Clement's worshipper, aged 97.

A community reception, held in the Victory Room at St Clement's  brought together a number of people linked with the regeneration of East Manchester and local figures.

Over forty people attended the Pilgrimage service. Ron Cassidy a retired priest from Denton, though originally from St Clement's, told the story of the church's long reputation for encouraging Christian vocations.

PCC Secretary, Patricia Mserembo, originally from Malawi, took up the story, and spoke of the church today and hopes for the future.

The baton was handed back to the bishop by three church members;  Brenda Smith, Michelle Taylor and Alex Johnson representing three generations of church family.

The special music for the service was provided with the help of musicians

Photos from this Run the race Bishop's pilgrimage

from Holy Trinity Church in Rusholme.

Priest in charge, The Revd. Chris Howitz reports, 'We had a good time; the bishop's message was encouraging, and those present really appreciated his challenge to pass on the baton of faith, hope and love.


"It was a privilege for me to stand beside the bishop as he anointed and prayed for all the people. It was a great idea for the bishop to use himself as a way of helping us to invite people to 'come and meet the bishop'. Run the Race is a useful tool for mission.

"We hope to build on this event: whether or not people were able to come, we invited lots of people and made relationships through those invitations."

After the service church members stayed for coffee and cake - as well as to have the chance to have a photo taken with their bishop!