The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, visited South Aston on Tuesday 24th February 2015
The Archbishop was in the Birmingham area for four days
21st - 24th February 2015 as part of Birmingham Cathedral's 300th Anniversary celebrations.
All of us who are aware of Justin Welby's prodigious work ethic will not be surprised that he packed a tremendous amount into those four days. This included giving the keynote address at the 'Love Your Neighbour, Think, Pray, Vote' conference held at the Methodist Central Hall, Coventry on Saturday the 21st.
On Monday evening visited Curdworth Parish Church which is dedicated to the Saints Nicholas and Peter ad Vincula ('St. Peter in chains' if you were wondering). This year that church celebrates its 850th anniversary!
His visit to South Aston to see the Christian Church in action, making the plight of homeless men a little more comfortable and showing them that someone cares, fitted well with the theme of the conference.
He arrived at 7.15am together with the Bishop of Birmingham, David Urquhart and the Archbishop's Chaplain, the Revd. Dr. Jo Bailey Wells.
They were welcomed by the Reverend Peter Little, minister of South Aston United Reformed Church. After a brief introduction the three visitors immediately engaged themselves in talking to the volunteers.
Justin offered to serve breakfast to the guests who had stayed overnight and to do the washing up afterwards. You can't get more 'hands on' than that.
Peter was able to chat to the Archbishop about the conference referred to above. By coincidence Peter had booked to go to that conference some months ago, well before it was known that the Archbishop was coming to South Aston.
The volunteers are already buoyed up just by the feedback that they get from the guests but the visit from Justin, David and Jo took that feeling to an even higher level.
A day to remember indeed!
PS Sarah Turner reported that the Archbishop was speaking at another function that day and had mentioned his visit to the night shelter at South Aston. She said that he had described it as "a very relaxed atmosphere and gentle welcome, it was actually wonderful"
21st - 24th February 2015 as part of Birmingham Cathedral's 300th Anniversary celebrations.
All of us who are aware of Justin Welby's prodigious work ethic will not be surprised that he packed a tremendous amount into those four days. This included giving the keynote address at the 'Love Your Neighbour, Think, Pray, Vote' conference held at the Methodist Central Hall, Coventry on Saturday the 21st.
On Monday evening visited Curdworth Parish Church which is dedicated to the Saints Nicholas and Peter ad Vincula ('St. Peter in chains' if you were wondering). This year that church celebrates its 850th anniversary!
His visit to South Aston to see the Christian Church in action, making the plight of homeless men a little more comfortable and showing them that someone cares, fitted well with the theme of the conference.
He arrived at 7.15am together with the Bishop of Birmingham, David Urquhart and the Archbishop's Chaplain, the Revd. Dr. Jo Bailey Wells.
They were welcomed by the Reverend Peter Little, minister of South Aston United Reformed Church. After a brief introduction the three visitors immediately engaged themselves in talking to the volunteers.
Justin offered to serve breakfast to the guests who had stayed overnight and to do the washing up afterwards. You can't get more 'hands on' than that.
Peter was able to chat to the Archbishop about the conference referred to above. By coincidence Peter had booked to go to that conference some months ago, well before it was known that the Archbishop was coming to South Aston.
The volunteers are already buoyed up just by the feedback that they get from the guests but the visit from Justin, David and Jo took that feeling to an even higher level.
A day to remember indeed!
PS Sarah Turner reported that the Archbishop was speaking at another function that day and had mentioned his visit to the night shelter at South Aston. She said that he had described it as "a very relaxed atmosphere and gentle welcome, it was actually wonderful"
