Crossing the Diocese - the Pilgrimage
Week 3: Market Bosworth to Desford
Day 1 : Thursday 21
February
A small crowd gathered at Market Bosworth parish church to see us off,
including three or four children from St Peter’s school who presented me
with a teddy bear. After saying the morning office we set off down a
gated road to Sutton Cheney to be met by three faithful parishioners.
The church is undergoing repairs and much of the plaster is being
removed from the walls. We could not help feeling that the burden of
upkeep of these tiny country churches falls very heavily on a small and
faithful group of people.
We then walked on to the Battlefield for a welcome cup of coffee. Very
quickly a discussion began about lay leadership in the church, how
training was to be provided, and how the clergy could liberate the
energies of lay people to do more in the life of the church.
With these issues unresolved, we walked on, meeting a group of
Battlefield guides as we made our way from the Visitors’ Centre. The
path took us on towards Dadlington past what is now felt to be the
Battlefield site, a few hundred yards beyond the one that has
historically been demarcated.
The village of Dadlington clusters around a small village green and the
church is attractive. We were met by another small group of
parishioners, stopped for prayer and conversation and then set off again
towards Stoke Golding.
This parish church is a place of real distinction, dedicated to St Mary
of Antioch. We were joined on the final stages of the walk by the High
Sheriff, Barry Jackson and his wife and Alan Davis the acting Area Dean
led the prayers. We crossed the road into Stoke Golding village school
where we were greeted by the Head Teacher, given lunch and heard much
about the changes and developments in the school since the new Head
arrived. There was just time for a quick visit to all the classrooms to
give each room a little cross and to talk to the children about what we
were up to. Once again the idea of someone making a long walk to see
them seems to capture their imagination.
From Stoke Golding we made our way on towards Hinckley. We arrived to be
received by a standing ovation from a group of fifty or sixty people in
the parish church. Once again a number of the St Mary’s School children
had come into the church to meet us and we had an opportunity to talk to
them and share our crosses and the story of the walk so far.
The walk from St Mary’s to St Catherine’s was joined by a number of
people from both churches, including one from St John’s Hinckley.
Discovering how those two parishes connect and overlap by walking from
one to the other was instructive. Arriving at St Catherine’s we were
greeted by David Jennings and another group of parishioners. Here there
was an opportunity to dedicate a new set of choir stalls recently made
for the church and costing £20,000.
A marvellous dinner with David and Anne Jennings during which we
discussed amongst other things, the way in which weddings are provided
and costed at St Catherine’s. Just gave us time to make our way to the
Constitutional Club to meet a large group of people. They had come to
meet the Bishop, in some cases to question and argue but the atmosphere
was uniformly warm towards the church and appreciative of the idea of
this walk.
Day 2: Friday 22 February
The day began with morning prayer at St Catherine’s and a walk to Aston
Flamville. This day was led by Bob Stephen who set a good pace, kept us
to time and enabled us to feel that we would make it from one
destination to the other without having to be under pressure.
In Aston Flamville we were met by the Church Warden and given a short
history of the village. The church is interesting because the sanctuary
area is lower than the aisle, one of only a small number of churches in
England designed in that way. We saw the grave of the Dominican Priest
who had used Aston Flamville church as his place of worship before the
emancipation of the Catholics.
Then on to Sharnford, to be greeted at the parish boundary by Gwynne
Jones and Mick Norman. Sharnford has a wide central aisle, created by
the pews catching fire sometime ago. It makes a great difference to the
feel of the church to have a significant circulation space in the middle
of the aisle. Again we were met by a significant group of people, warmly
welcomed and found much appreciation for the walk.
From there we made our way, continuing on the country lanes to
Frolesworth where we had a brief stop before continuing on to Leire. A
large number of people had gathered outside the church together with a
banner emblazoned with the words “Welcome Bishop Tim”. There were well
over 40 people in the church so we decided to sing “Guide me O thou
great redeemer” before leaving the church and making our way to the
local pub.
Here the landlord greeted us and had provided soup and cheese for
everybody. He told me that it was hard going trying to make a living out
of a pub like this, but he could not have been more welcoming.
From there on to Ashby Parva where we were greeted by two school
children who had baked a cake with my name on and a picture of a mitre
in the icing.
Then to Bitteswell to see the marvellous new church extension just
completed and to greet many of the school children who had come in to
the church at the end of the school day.
The final leg of the day was to Lutterworth where again 30 or 40 people
were in the church for the evening prayer and a short talk about the
pilgrimage so far.
After dinner we returned to the church for an evening gathering of
representatives of the wider community. Here there was a question and
answer session including questions about social cohesion, Archbishop
Rowan Williams’ remarks, the need for the church to speak out on
poverty, the nature of church buildings and whether they can be used as
centres of community life. It was a lively and worthwhile conversation.
Day 3: Saturday 23 February
As usual, after a good breakfast and prayers with a dozen or so in
Lutterworth church before we were waved off on our way to Gilmorton.
The walk to Gilmorton was by road, accompanied by Colin Entwistle from
the Cathedral. This was an experience of walking in a threesome for the
first time, an opportunity for more reflection, quiet and thinking. We
diverted for the last mile across fields into Gilmorton, taking us on a
path which involved a close encounter with four large Boxer dogs behind
a fragile fence. Martin, our guide, exercised heroic courage by
interposing his body between me and the dogs! But it was clear that
locals no longer like using the path because of a genuine fear that
these dogs might one day get out. It is sad that people feel the need to
keep animals that are a real threat to others in this way.
After all the noise of the dogs we found peace in the Garden of
Remembrance in the churchyard where we waited for someone to arrive to
open the church for us. Eventually the church was opened, along with the
village hall in case we needed a loo. And finally some 20 people turned
up having only heard about our visit 24 hours before. I was delighted
that we had made the detour to Gilmorton because we were so warmly
welcomed and there was clear appreciation of the decision to try to take
in at least part of the Avon Swift group of parishes.
From there, we walked further by road to Dunton Bassett, this time
accompanied by half a dozen or so people. I gave an interview to
Leicester Hospital Radio just as we were crossing the M1. On arrival at
Dunton Bassett, 20 locals had turned up for the prayers, although word
had got out that we would be praying half an hour later and a further 10
arrived afterwards having missed the prayers.
So we made our way to the village hall for lunch comprising of four
kinds of soup and an opportunity for conversation. We said the
pilgrimage prayer in the village hall and I was joined by Wendi and
Rachel who came along for an afternoon’s walking.
So on to Broughton Astley where the timetable provided nearly 45 minutes
wait for us. A lot of people turned out from the parish and we were
addressed by the vicar, David Shaw, who made special mention of Bishop
John Austin whom he had known in the Birmingham diocese. David had
clearly appreciated Bishop John’s pastoral ministry enormously and it
was good to remember him in our prayers. Sadly, he also saw fit to refer
to the Rugby defeat of England by the Welsh!
The final leg of the day took us into Cosby, by which time we had
completed about 10 miles in the day. The centre of the village is
attractive with a river running through the middle and the church bells
welcomed us. Again, a significant group of people joined us for the
prayer and showed evident delight that we had come to Cosby not just for
a visit, but for an overnight stay.
I was given a delicious dinner by Mary Freer, whose family have lived in
Leicestershire for at least 4 generations. Then to the Bunning Hall to
hear the Cosby Church Choir entertain us for half an hour in the
presence of a cross-section of community representatives. Finally there
was a glass of read wine and a good night’s rest awaiting me.
Day 4: Sunday 24 February
The day began, as usual on Sundays, with the 9.15 am Eucharist bringing
together the Cosby and Whetstone congregations.
The choir again led the music beautifully and there was a real sense of
togetherness, prayerfulness and support in the service. We distributed
crosses to a large congregation before leaving with warm farewells and
deep appreciation that I had been part of the community overnight.
We made a hot pace to Narborough, trying to arrive before the end of
mass. The Eucharistic prayers was still being said on arrival, and we
waited until after communion before I was invited by Fr Nick Burton to
address the congregation. I spoke about the pilgrimage and then was
asked to give a blessing.
We left quickly in order to make our way immediately to Huncote where
there was a more informal encounter with a dozen or so who had been to
mass earlier in the day. We shared the prayers with them, answered
questions about the walk and were grateful for the “Welcome Bishop Tim”
sign tied to balloons at the gate.
And so on to Thurlaston. The walk nearly produced a fatality with a car
veering out of the way of Francis, my guide, just outside the village.
40 or so had gathered in the village hall and we had a good Sunday
lunch. The tradition of Thurlaston is the diametric opposite of that in
Narborough and yet I had walked between these two communities with their
different understandings of God, of the Christian tradition and of the
meaning of the Eucharist.
From Thurlaston we moved on past the giant Caterpillar plants, making
our way to Desford. The road was dangerous and a number of drivers
expressed indignation that pedestrians were getting in the way of their
cars!
Fortunately, we survived in one piece to arrive in Desford village hall
where some 40 or so had gathered for tea. They were eager to hear tales
from our walk and to ask their questions about how it was going.
The last leg of the journey on Sunday was to visit Desford parish church
and to see the excellent work that is in progress in removing some of
the pews and creating a community meeting space inside the church. It
seemed a very good example of the kind of adaptation and flexible church
use which we need to model throughout the diocese.
XTim
