St Chad, Ladybarn

The Bishop of Manchester met members the youth club and older residents on a visit to the Ladybarn Community Centre; part of the latest stage of his pilgrimage to St Chad's on January 13th, 2009.

After praying with thirty or so church members, the bishop was taken to the community centre where local residents were meeting for a talk by the community police officer about personal and home safety. The bishop also met staff who expressed their appreciation of his visit.

After meeting young people at the centre, the bishop moved over to St Chad's church hall for a community reception hosted by the church for the local community. The bishop met representatives of other nearby churches as well as local councillors and members of the church and the community - about 100 people in all.

The whole church community took part in the Pilgrimage Service in church. The children of the church met the bishop at the main door and escorted him into church at the beginning of the service.

Priest-in-charge, the Revd. Elizabeth Davies explains: "We wanted the children from our church community to play a significant part in the service because we value our children and wanted them to have the important place in the service."

"All of those at the reception joined us in church, plus a few others. We kept the service simple and straightforward as we wanted it to reflect St Chad's as a worshipping community. We felt that the bishop wanted to visit us as we are."

The story of the church was told by Robert Nicholls who has written a short history of the church. The choir sang a special anthem. 

At the end of the service the children took the baton in relay around the church building and then handed it

Photos from this Run the race Bishop's pilgrimage

back to the bishop before escorting him to the door to greet the people.

"The visit was a very positive occasion for the church and enjoyed by everybody." reflected Elizabeth Davies Priest-in-charge.



"It was good once again to invite the local community to share an event with us and the bishop's visit to the community centre was very well received. People were pleased to meet and talk with the bishop and enjoyed having photos taken with him.

"I was pleased that the congregation and community enjoyed the event and that, despite having been poorly, the bishop was able to speak personally to many people."