A packed Hereford Cathedral and a special service marked the end of forty four years (44) of Ministry by Michael Hooper, the Bishop of Ludlow. The service combined a celebration of Local Ministry and a farewell service for someone who has worked all over the Diocese of Hereford.

The congregation brought together members of nearly every Local Ministry Team in the Diocese; more than thirty (30) teams turned up to say goodbye. They were joined by colleagues and ordinary people from every corner of Herefordshire and South Shropshire and members of the Bishop’s family.

In his sermon, Bishop Michael proved himself just as passionate about Local Ministry today as he had been fifteen years ago when he led the first one at Leominster Priory. Since that early experiment, the idea of forming teams of Ordained and Lay people to serve the needs of the parish has grown to thirty five teams (35) and is set to grow even more.

Bishop Michael and his wife Rosemary were presented with some garden furniture, a gift they had chosen, and a cheque to spend as they wished. They were then surprised to see a small trolley being rolled up to the main altar by some of his colleagues.

“We took off the cover and showed Bishop Michael the stone corbel we had had carved of him from some photos I had given to the masons,“ said Anni Holden, one of the five people who had hatched the secret plan for the corbel. “It is an excellent likeness, if a little exaggerated, but it captures his big wide smile. We wanted to be sure that our memories of him were firmly set in stone!”

The corbel will be put on the South side of the Cathedral where a three year programme of repair and renewal is already in place. The stone was carved in the Stonemason’s yard which is based on the North side of the Cathedral, a popular tourist attraction.

Bishop Michael Hooper served his entire career in the Diocese of Hereford, starting in 1965 as a curate in Bridgnorth, where he met his wife Rosemary. He followed this with work in Habberley and Minsterley before moving to Leominster in 1981, where he developed the first Local Ministry Team in Hereford, serving not just the Priory but drawing in many of the surrounding villages and today includes 23 of them. He became Archdeacon of Hereford in 1997 before being the popular choice of Bishop of Ludlow in 2002. Bishop Michael and Rosemary are retiring to Pershore in the Diocese of Worcester.

A jpeg of the corbel of Bishop Michael is available on request

Anni Holden, Director of Communications
The Diocesan Office, The Palace, Hereford HR4 9BL
Tel: 01432 373342 mobile 07889 186316
a.holden@hereford.anglican.org
www.hereford.anglican.org