St Paul and St Thomas, Halliwell

The Bishop of Manchester picked up his baton to conduct members of the award-winning Smithills School Band for his visit to the Halliwell on Thursday March 19th, 2009. The bishop is due to reprise his role of honorary conductor in June 2009 when he will conducted the whole band at a diocesan Mothers' Union celebration in the Bridgewater Hall .

Prior to the pilgrimage service, the bishop arrived to pray with a small group of parishioners at St Paul's. Team Vicar, the Revd. Rodger Petch then took Bishop Nigel to visit the local newsagents where the Bhatt family welcomed the bishop and spoke of the challenges of running a small business, asking him to pray for them before he left.

Bishop Nigel then visited HAFWAY  (Halliwell Action For Work Alongside Young People) where he met staff, trustees and young people. The bishop played table tennis and chatted with youngsters - fielding one question about why he was "wearing a purple dress"!

The Rev Julie Shepherd, a long-serving ordained local minister in the parish, accompanied the bishop on a visit to local sheltered housing to meet Florence and Alice; two church members in their 90s. Alice was recently injured in an accident, but has since made a full recovery.

At a Community Reception for about 60 people, in St Thomas' School, the bishop met Bolton North East MP, David Crausby, Cllr Sufrana Bashir, headteacher, Sue Pilling, and representatives of the police, local businesses and HAFWAY.

Many who were at the reception moved over to church for the pilgrimage service, attended by around 80 people.

Photos from this Run the race Bishop's pilgrimage

"There was a good coming together of St Paul's and St Thomas' church members for the service, and a very good feel about the whole event." said Team Vicar, Rodger Petch.


"A number of staff from the school found it a very moving event including some who are not particularly 'churchy'. I was impressed by the time that the Bishop gave to individuals; many people  commented on this. Sadly, this meant that meeting schedules was impossible and the Bishop wasn't able to visit the school - perhaps this is a good excuse for another visit in the future?

"It added to our networking and raised the profile of the two churches. I think it also sent out a good message about the need for change."