More than 200 refugees enjoyed music, food, games, children’s activities and the chance to chat and relax in the sunshine at an annual family garden party hosted by the Bishop of Norwich.
“It is one of my favourite afternoons of the year,” said Bishop Graham.
He welcomed families forced to flee from Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan and Myanmar, saying he hoped he was, in a small way, helping to continue Norwich’s long history as a city of welcome, hospitality and sanctuary. Saying that God asks us to care for the stranger and the outcast, he prayed for God’s blessing and peace, for their homes in Norfolk, and the homes they had to leave.
Many families brought food from their own cultures for a shared lunch. Children queued for the ice cream van and face-painting, and joined in games and crafts, and guests enjoyed wandering through the historic gardens.
The party was hosted by the Bishop of Norwich and organised by Norfolk County Council’s ‘People From Abroad’ team for refugees who came to Norfolk as part of one of the government-approved resettlement schemes.
The garden also helped local charities raise thousands of pounds. The National Garden Scheme, which supports nursing charities, Leeway, Vision Norfolk and the RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre all hosted open garden afternoons in the historic grounds in July.
This year’s Bishop of Norwich Lent Appeal was launched in the garden in January, with the help of sheep from the Revd Josh Whitnall’s Norvic Flock. People across the diocese helped raise an impressive £16,415 for the Norfolk based rural mental health charity You Are Not Alone.
Its founder, Melinda Raker, and trustee Virginia Edgecombe thanked everyone who had helped raise the money at another garden presentation involving sheep – but this time cardboard rather than real. Full story here.
The Bishop of Norwich is also Abbot of St Benet’s and, in one of the most picturesque of his traditional duties, arrived at his Abbey of St Benet’s, near Ludham, aboard a wherry to lead the annual service at the only English monastic community not destroyed in Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.
After sailing from Ranworth to St Benets he took part in a procession from the river staithe to the site of the ruined abbey’s high altar. Its huge wooden cross was recently re-straightened by local farmers. Bishop, and Abbot, Graham said: “Huge thanks to local farmers Louis, Sam and Tim who have made sure that the iconic pilgrim cross at St Benet’s Abbey in the Norfolk Broads is no longer ‘on the huh.’”
There were more boats for the bishop at the beginning of the month when he visited King’s Lynn Minster to install Kathryn Buscall as the High Steward of King’s Lynn Minster and took part in a procession from the minster to the quayside to perform the annual blessing of the fishing fleet. Full story here.
He licensed priests to new parishes and benefices including the Revd Jonathan Dowman at St Nicholas, Blakeney, the Revd Ian Fifield at St David’s, Thorpe End and the Revd David Bailey at St Mary the Virgin, Hemsby.
At St Peter’s, Hoveton, the Bishop took part in a thanksgiving service marking the 400th anniversary of the church and dedicated its newly thatched roof.
Bishop Graham led a clergy teaching morning in Norwich Cathedral on the theme of stewards of creation and the environment and gave the blessing at the Diocesan Schools Day in the cathedral.
He spent a week this month leading a pilgrimage of young people from the Diocese of Norwich to Taize in France. Here they stayed in the grounds of a monastery which welcomes pilgrims from all over the world and from many denominations. The party of teenagers and young adults travelled and camped together and enjoyed talks, trips, meditations, big church services and small multi-national study sessions.
The bishop’s month began with Diocesan Synod, held at Easton College on July 1, and he also took part in General Synod, held in York, as well as speaking in the House of Lords.
He joined a mass climate lobby of Parliament, asking MPs to help those facing climate disaster. In a Lords session on energy infrastructure he called for cables to be buried underground across the Waveney Valley and mentioned prohibitive connection costs quoted for churches in Lowestoft and King’s Lynn keen to use green energy.
From new green energy in King’s Lynn, to ancient green wisdom in the King’s gardens at Highgrove, where Bishop Graham joined King Charles for his Harmony Summit. He met leaders from indigenous groups around the world, learned about traditional ways of healing people, nature and the planet. The bishop said grace before a shared lunch and spent time with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea ahead of visiting the country, which is linked with the Diocese of Norwich.
More international work included joining fellow bishops to call on the https://www.dioceseofnorwich.org/bishop-of-norwich-israeli-settler-violence-threatens-the-existence-of-christians-in-the-holy-land/UK Government to hold Israel to account for settler violence in the West Bank, which threatens not just the peace of the region but the continued presence of Christians in the Holy Land. He also joined the Archbishop of York and other bishops calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, the release of hostages and the recognition of Palestinian statehood while there is still land on which a state could be recognised.
The bishop also continued his work with the Crown Nominations Commission to find the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
