Windy Monday

St Cuthbert's Well

Monday 12th September 2011    A delightful visit to St Cuthbert's Bellingham from members of St Paul's Episcopalian Church in Bellingham USA.  I enjoyed meeting them and we were amused when we realised that I had been expecting a group of Pentecostalists.  I had been a little surprised at the information that I had received on Friday.  I was told that a group of sixteen members of a Pentecostalist Church was coming to spend several days on Iona and then some time on Holy Island before making their way to Durham via Bellingham.  It didn't sound the most likely choice of route for them.  However, it is indeed quite a traditional route for an Anglican (Episcopalian) group retracing the journeys of our Northern saints  including Cuthbert.  The detour via Bellingham couldn't be resisted by travellers from our namesake town.  I was able to offer a brief introduction to the turbulent centuries of the Border Reivers which explains the almost unique stone roof of St Cuthbert's Church .  After the building had been burnt down several times, the people of Bellingham decided to rebuild in stone whilst keeping the design of the wooden roof.
         The next meeting was planning the Deanery Day at Simonburn.  The "Day" looks as though it is going to spread out from the afternoon of  Friday 21st October to the afternoon of Saturday 22nd with an optional walk and overnight stop leading to the "workshop" day.  We spent an hour studying the map rather than striding cross-country in the gale force winds.  We then drove safely to St Mungo's Simonburn and considered which parts of the village hall to use for different activities.  [See Events page for updates.]