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The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Revd. Nigel McCulloch visited Saint Mary`s Prestwich on Wednesday 24th October 2007.
After a short service of prayer in church, to which those who would find it difficult to get to church later in the evening were specially invited, the bishop made a couple of pastoral visits with priest-in-charge, the Revd. Bryan Hackett. The first visit was to the Railway and Naturalist pub on Bury New Road, where the bishop met landlady and church choir member, Hazel, and her family, then to Church Lane to meet Judy, a longstanding neighbour of the church, and pillar of the Prestwich community.
A community reception was held, unusually, in St Mary's capacious Rectory. In addition to members of St Mary's Church Council, over seventy representatives of the local community were invited, including councillors and representatives of local businesses, youth groups and organisations, as well as local heritage and naturalist groups.
A good number of those present at the reception stayed for the Pilgrimage Service in St Mary's, which attracted around ninety in total. St Mary's Church of England Primary School Choir sang during the service and the story of Saint Mary's was told by Fred Plant a regular worshipper at St Mary`s, and part of the fabric of the church and community of Prestwich since the 1940`s. During the service Mr Plant was reunited with the Commonwealth Games baton that he had first carried during its journey to the Manchester Games in 2002.
During the service the Bishop blessed a triptych painted by three teenage members of the church (pictured), described by Run the Race Missioner, Roger Hill as 'a sort of pop art piece, with Big Bang, Mary with Jesus and Calvary, overlooking the mountains and seas of the world.'
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