The Bishop of Stockport The Rt. Revd Libby Lane visits our SHC and St. Mary's

The Mayor's Carol Service took place in St. Marys Church, 16th December 2015.
Our Bishop of Stockport The Rt. Revd Libby Lane, who was consecrated on 26th January 2015 at York Cathedral by Archbishop John Sentamu, took part in this service. Previously she'd been the vicar of St. George's Church, Heaviley.
She is a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chester and is the first woman to be appointed as a bishop by the Church of England.
[A Suffragan bishop is a bishop subordinate to a metropolitan bishop of diocesan bishop. They may be assigned to an area which does not have a cathedral of its own]. 
Libby was born in 1966.

Stockport Colour Calendar 2016

 The Stockport Heritage Trust Colour calendar for 2016 is selling out fast.
Get your copies from the St. Mary's Church Heritage Centre, Bakers News, Station Convenient Stores, Davenport Post Office, Jacksons News or Stockport Market.

And hurry they may not last until Christmas.

Rev. Roger Scoones is retiring

On the  29th November, 2015 Rev. Scoones  announced that he will be retiring in March next year

Roger started as Rector in 1996, after being the Vicar at Congleton.

Here's a pic of him I took in 1998.

Before 1996, I had never been in St. Mary's Church before as it only seemed to be open on Sundays for services. 

After Roger became our Rector, one lunchtime I called in; I recall that he was alone in the Vestry. He and I had a long chat; we both have an interest in photography, together other shared interests and we quickly became good friends. 

In 1996 the Trust was homeless and all our monthly meeting were in the Pack Horse, and the Trust had been looking for empty affordable premises for a while.

I approached Roger on behalf of SHT to propose running, just a 3 months initially, a trail of a Heritage Centre display in the empty Choir Vestry, which had just been refurbished after a fire.

It took almost a year to negotiate this 'trial' with the PCC. The next 18 years are history. 

The small handful of early volunteer members when Iain McLean was Chairman worked as trojans together to furnish, man and create the our museum/centre;  we were open even then on all market days. 

Sadly most of these loyal volunteers are no longer with us today.

Without Roger's full support over the intervening 18 years, we wouldn't have our 'new' splendid Heritage Centre today.

I really hope that Roger has a long and happy retirement.

Phil [R]