Pupils, staff and parents at Kingsland Church of England Primary School in Herefordshire proudly celebrated becoming the first local school to be credited as a School of Sanctuary. This status is a recognition of the school’s unwavering commitment to fostering a culture of warmth, welcome, and inclusion for refugees and individuals seeking asylum.
Every year a number of churches in deaneries across Hereford support young African students to train as priests as part of our linked partnership with Tanzania. As we celebrate our local ordinations, we delight in the news that four men in Africa have also felt that special call to serve God in dioceses across Tanzania.
I, along with my team, have oversight of all 78 Church of England schools across the diocese. I have loved this job.
At St Dubricius church, which is part of the Wye Reaches benefice, removing a 180-year-old tree from the churchyard created a perfect space for a stone labyrinth. Created in the summer of 2022 for an arts and crafts exhibition, the vicar, Revd Tim Starling, kept intending to tidy up the stone labyrinth until he noticed that it was still being used.
As part of Refugee Week 2023, The Diocese of Hereford has partnered with Mothers' Union Hereford to launch a clothing appeal, asking people to donate towards buying new clothes for those seeking asylum who are currently being hosted in the county.
Children in Year 6 at Christ Church CE Primary school in South Shropshire celebrated achieving their Archbishop’s Young Leader’s Award with a Community Tea party.
_1684219988.png)
A small group of dedicated crafters in South Shropshire have been helping to spread the Good News of well-known Bible stories in the form of knitted tableaux. The knitted tableaux known locally as Bible Yarns has already visited many churches and has helped raise over two thousand pounds.
_1683838756.png)
Earlier today, Kathy and David Bland attended the second Royal Garden party of the season and bumped into a familiar face from Hereford Diocese.
_1683654872.png)
Last Sunday, Four Local Pastoral Visitors were commissioned at St John’s, Ludlow, to serve with Revds Melia Cope and Richard Hill as part of the pastoral care team for the benefice. They are the first group of Local Pastoral Visitors to be commissioned in this new role in the diocese, but their service is rooted in the longstanding pastoral care which has been offered by laypeople in the benefice.
_1683017271.png)
A churchwarden in Herefordshire has crafted her own approach to supporting her local church by combining her passion for needlework with a unique line of designer embroidered clergy stoles.
_1682586196.png)