St. Elizabeth's Horwich

The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd. Nigel McCulloch, offered a helping hand to staff and customers at Tesco Extra in Middlebrook on Tuesday, September 25th 2007 as part of his visit to the parish of St. Elizabeth's in Horwich.

The clergy of the Horwich and Rivington team wanted to show their bishop how their local area has changed over the years; especially in the retail sector. Bishop Nigel responded enthusiastically by offering to help pack customers' shopping on their supermarket visit.

The Bishop began his pilgrimage to Horwich with prayers in Saint Elizabeth's before popping over to the church hall to meet staff and children at 'Jumping Jacks', an out-of-school children's care group. After his visit to Tesco, the bishop was given a tour of the parish.

Returning to the church, the bishop attended a reception in the church hall and met representatives of the local community including the Mayor of Bolton, Cllr. Barbara Ronson, who lives in the parish.

Catering for the occasion was provided by Saint Elizabeth's branch of the Mothers' Union. The branch has taken the decision to close, and the service in church which followed the reception looked back with appreciation over the fifty years of the branch's life.

The service also included six members of all ages, backed by an big-screen presentation, telling the story of the church and of  the local community. They recalled the tin mission church built in 1902 and the ways in which the church has responded to the many changes in the increasingly diverse local area.

Photos from this Run the race Bishop's pilgrimage

Among those participating in the service were Mrs Doris Nichols (longest serving member of the Mother's Union), who received the Commonwealth Games baton on behalf of the church. Mrs Nichols, in turn passed the baton on to Thomas, a younger member of the church who worships at St Elizabeth's with his family and who was baptised last April, symbolising the church's call to pass on the faith to the younger generation and looking forward to the church's continuing work in the 21st century.

The Rev'd Paul Berry, Team Vicar of St Elizabeth's said, "We hope that the Bishop's visit will affirm the many members of the local community in the work they are doing, and encourage our partnership with them. Our prayer is that it will re-ignite the church congregation in wanting to reach out to the people of the area with the good news that the gospel has given to us.


In doing so, we pray for transformation of both people's lives and the life of our community!"