Hits: 2198

IMG 9977

A huge congregation gathered at St Clare's tonight to mark our anniversary and bless the statue of St Clare.

It's 40 years to the day since Bishop Foley came to bless the Foundation Stone of our church. That day, a great crowd of people assembled on the building site to take part in the event, and tonight a similarly impressive congregation was present for the blessing of our beautiful new statue of St Clare. It was wonderful to be able to welcome back Fr Michael Lakeland, who was Parish Priest here for more than half of the parish's life so far, from 1982 to 2008. 

IMG 9924

Starting in the church itself, we listened to a reading in which St Paul reminds us that we must always build on the foundation which has already been laid, that is, Jesus Christ. Immanuel and Ellie, Head Boy and Head Girl at St Clare's school, then shared with us some of the things they had learnt about St Clare and why she is so important to us.

IMG 9956

It was wonderful that the children were able to share their love of St Clare with a packed church. Then we went to the narthex - as many of us as could fit in - to bless the statue.

IMG 9985

Parishioners placed symbols in front of the statue, a sign of us bringing to St Clare those who need her prayers: a baptismal candle, representing all those who belong to the parish; the school log book, representing our primary school; the oil of the sick, representing our sick and housebound parishioners, and all those in hospital; a photograph of a Syrian family, representing all those we are helping in Syria and Iraq in partnership with Aid to the Church in Need; and finally, the box of November intentions - all the faithful departed who we pray for throughout this month. We asked St Clare to pray for these and for all our intentions, saying together a Litany of St Clare.

IMG 9991

After the final blessing, the celebrations continued outside, with the annual fireworks display and barbecue organised by the Scouts. We thank them for their work. And a special word of thanks goes to all who helped to make the new statue possible, especially parishioner Rita Hunter, whose sponsored walk to Santiago raised a huge amount towards the cost. The statue is a very beautiful image of our patroness and will remind all who enter the church that St Clare, from heaven, watches over us and prays for us. Click on the gallery below to see more images of tonight's celebration.

IMG 0065

IMG_0001.JPG IMG_0010.JPG IMG_0033.JPG

IMG_0036.JPG IMG_0065.JPG IMG_0099.JPG

IMG_9895.JPG IMG_9913.JPG IMG_9924.JPG

IMG_9956.JPG IMG_9977.JPG IMG_9985.JPG

IMG_9991.JPG P1010182.JPG P1010185.JPG