Children from Winwick C of E school will welcome the Bishop of Liverpool, Bishop John, with music and readings when he attends a service at St Oswald’s historic church on Monday, 15 July.
The morning service “A Celebration of Christianity” led by the Reverend Martin Cox, priest in charge of St. Oswald’s, will be Bishop John’s first visit to the church since he began his public ministry in the diocese in April 2023.
More than 100 children from the school will be in attendance in addition to members of the church congregation. There will be hymns sung by the school choir and two of the lessons will be read by the pupils. During the service Bishop John will be asked a series of questions as the congregation celebrates Christianity.
He will be given a tour of the iconic church whose existence was first recorded in the Domesday book in the year 1086. Its Anglo Saxon origins over 1,000 years ago, are carved in a stone cross within the building which would have stood beside the original wooden church site. The building’s treasures reflect the Norman and Tudor eras of the country’s history and the days of the Civil war when the church was used as a prison for the defeated Cavaliers and a shelter for Cromwell’s troops. In addition to existing architectural features such as the Chancel designed by Pugin, two dedicated chapels with fascinating exhibits of their own, and the marriage lines of Captain Smith, Captain of the Titanic, who married the daughter of a local farming family at the church in 1887, there will be a specially designed display of historic eccliastical artefacts. This will feature items from a unique collection belonging to James Balme, a Cheshire Life historian.
Following the service Bishop John will also visit St Oswald’s school to perform a short afternoon assembly for the younger children.
Rev. Cox, who has accepted an invitation from the Bishop to serve as the Area Dean of Winwick Deanery in addition to his parish duties, said: “I am really looking forward to welcoming Bishop John to St. Oswald’s. This provides us with an opportunity to share with him some of the story of this historic parish church and provides us with an opportunity to get to know Bishop John on a more personal level too.”
The church will remain open to visitors during the afternoon.
Morning Service: “A celebration of Christianity” Monday July 15 at 10 30 a.m.
Church Open day 12 noon to 3 p.m.
