Bury Parish Church

Bury Parish Church has been awarded a Marque of Excellence by the North West Multi-faith Tourism Association for surpassing the standards of visitor welcome set by the Association.  The church was visited by Joanna Booth, the Development Officer for the Association, in July and we were then required to complete a comprehensive audit to see whether we met the criteria for the Award.  It is gratifying that not only are we able to open the church almost all week, but also that an official body feels we set high standards to make people feel welcome when they visit.

There are some areas where we still have room for improvement and we will work to do so, but it seems we are moving in the right direction.

John Uden

Chair of Publicity Committee

October 2009

The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, brought the Commonwealth Games baton to Bury on Friday afternoon, 16 October, when he came to the Parish Church as part of his plan to visit every church in his Diocese, which he started two years ago.  The baton was formally passed to the church’s Associate Rector, Rev Gordon Joyce, as a symbol of the Bishop’s handing to the congregation the challenge of passing on the Christian message to the next generation. During his visit to Bury the Bishop spent time in the Markets, chatted to junior singers in the church Choir School and then met 200 people from the town with links to the church. These included the Mayor and Mayoress, police representatives, Heads and other teachers, members of the Fusiliers Association, staff of the Tourist Information Centre, young cadets, school pupils and local charity workers.

During the reception the Bishop also presented a plaque to the church, awarded by the North West Multi-Faith Tourism Association, in recognition of the excellence of its welcome to visitors.

At the service that followed, the Bishop reminded everyone of the need to the have courage to speak about the Christian message to others. The congregation were individually blessed by Bishop Nigel, whose final words to them were to “…journey on, running with perseverance, the race that is set before us…looking to Jesus”