50th Anniversary and Consecration of Garden of Remembrance at Saint Thomas' Church

Past & Present Clergy On Sunday 29th January 2006, we were delighted to welcome the Archbishop and Mrs. Neill to a special united service in Saint Thomas' at which the Archbishop consecrated the new Garden of Remembrance, a new Holy Communion Table, a ramp and a Clavinova (digital piano). After the service, lunch was provided in the Monk Gibbon Parish Hall at Saint Thomas'.

It was wonderful to be able to welcome back those who had given leadership and made such significant contributions to the Parish in former years: former rectors: The Rev. Arthur Barrett and The Rev. Stephen Forde and their families, and particularly the family of the late Canon Trevor Hipwell. Ruth Hipwell read the epistle at the service and Jill Hipwell cut the 50th anniversary cake at the lunch. The Rev. Ernon Perdue who had looked after the Parish during the vacancy between Stephen and Arthur. The Rev. Bruce Pierce, a son of the Parish. The Rev. Robert Marshall, a parishioner.

Past & Present Clergy An enormous number of people worked so hard to make the day a very special occasion. People were involved in all sorts of things: moving tables, chairs, cutlery, crockery; baking and making goodies, purchasing and ordering, setting tables, serving, working out the logistics, cleaning, flower-arranging, polishing, weeding, car parking, rehearsing and practising music and hymns… the list is endless! Thank you all so much!

A number of years ago, The Rev. Arthur Barrett had initially kick-started the idea of extending the Garden of Remembrance at Saint Thomas'. A committee led by Jeanette Hunt, and consisting of Arthur White and Vera Pepper took up the baton and with their consultant Ken Hunt, worked tirelessly, paying careful attention to every detail, to create a Garden of Remembrance that would be a place of serenity and peaceful rest. Thank you does not even begin to adequately acknowledge the amount of work that went into this project which also included overseeing the provision of the ramp so that all could have easy access to the church.

Thank you.

Last Modified

22 August 2008

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