On Saturday, the morning sees the Archbishop formally opening a ‘Ride and Stride’ fundraising event from St Mary’s Church inside the grounds of Lydiard Park in Swindon, then attending a community funday on the Pinehurst Estate. He will also celebrate the third anniversary of a new LIGHT church in Chippenham before conducting around 20 baptisms in a pool set up in front of Malmesbury Abbey in north Wiltshire.
That event will soon turn into a community party and includes live music, a hog roast, curry buffet and a bar, at which a special beer called ‘Welby’s Wallop’ will be served. The beer is the idea of Malmesbury vicar Neill Archer, and has been brewed by the Royal Wootton Bassett-based Malmesbury Brewery.
The Archbishop might not be there long enough to drink too much of it though ”“ he has to head back towards Bristol for a community event at Stoke Gifford. On Sunday morning, the penultimate event will be a huge Eucharist service in Bristol Cathedral before the final event ”“ a Question Time-style debate on children and young people in Bristol at the Cathedral Choir school.
Bishop’s Tipple or Abbot’s Ale?