Parish of Stoneclough
St Saviour Ringley and Holy Trinity Prestolee

Bad weather in January 2010 caused the bishop's pilgrimage visit to the parish of Stoneclough to be postponed until Wednesday May 19. However, the timing of the visit couldn't have been better, according to The Revd. Dave Thompson, team Vicar. "We'd only got the green light from the pastoral committee to continue our two church buildings a few weeks earlier, so the Run the Race celebration was very timely."

After beginning with pilgrimage prayers at St Saviour's in Ringley, the bishop visited St Saviour's CE Primary School where he met head teacher, Ian Southern and his staff, had a tour of the school's new buildings and got to meet children at St Saviour's after-school care club.

After paying a call on local history publisher, Sue Richardson, who is also a church member and server, the bishop walked to the other side of the parish in Prestolee for a reception, hosted by the parish, for representatives of both communities of Ringley and Prestolee, held in the parish room of Holy Trinity church.

Holy Trinity has a significance for millions of television viewers, having hosted four Coronation Street weddings in the 1980s. Proud church members have kept the noticeboard of All Saints Weatherfield - Ken and Deidre Barlow's own parish church.

The Pilgrimage Service included worshippers of all ages, including children from Prestolee Community Primary school who sang in the service, and representatives from St Saviour's CE Primary School.

Bishop Nigel preached on the subject of passing on the baton of Faith Hope and Love, and Team

Photos from this Run the race Bishop's pilgrimage

Vicar, Dave Thompson spoke about the still relatively newly formed parish of Stoneclough - using the parish's name as an acronym to describe the diverse parish - beginning with "S for St Saviour's" and ending with "H for Holy Trinity".

"Ringley and Prestolee are two distinct communities and very much value their distinctive characters. The two churches were even in different deaneries until not that long ago." said Mr Thompson.

"Things are coming together well, and the bishops' pilgrimage has fostered that unity; and helped the two churches to feel more like one parish, one congregation - one Christian community.

"Bishop Nigel's visit has been a great encouragement to me and to others and has been a vindication of the decision to maintain the two buildings."