Bishop of Salisbury visit to Holy Trinity Church, Weymouth

The Right Reverend Stephen Lake the Bishop of Salisbury gave a sermon at Holy Trinity Church in Weymouth as part of the building's grand reopening celebrations.

The church, which is near to Weymouth Town Bridge, has recently seen a major renovation project completed, with churchgoers having to cope with more than a year of ongoing building work and scaffolding surrounding the building.

The work also resulted in a fall in income for the church as visitors were unable to view Weymouth's historic 'harbour church' and make donations.

Church warden Philippa Walker said: "Our parochial church council and church wardens have worked so hard to get work started and local building contractors David R Whites’ Robert and Russell worked even harder to get the work done and the church returned to its former glory.

"When we heard that the Bishop of Salisbury was to pay us a visit and take a Sunday service for us, we were really honoured and it was all hands on deck to make sure we were able to offer him the welcome we all wanted to give him.

"Our thanks to the team from David Whites, the cleaning and catering teams for pulling out all the stops to get the work done in readiness for his visit."

During his sermon the Bishop of Salisbury recalled earlier visits to the church and confided that his essays written as part of his training for ordination were marked by Reverend Richard Franklin, who was vicar of Holy Trinity from 1994 to 2016.

The Bishop's procession (Image: Holy Trinity Church)

The Bishop was supported by a team of young acolytes and servers, together with Trudi Shaw churchwarden, Connor Hansford youth worker and Carole Didcock, lay pastoral assistant. The organ was played by Gary Smith.

Philippa added: "The Bishop’s sermon was uplifting and encouraged us all to “reboot” and look to a brighter future which left everyone keen to re-launch our glorious church."

All are invited to join the Holy Trinity church community for Said Eucharist at 8am or Sung Eucharist at 10am each Sunday.

There are some exciting events in the next few months, Philippa said, the first of which will see the Bovington Military Wives Choir perform, joining Holy Trinity Primary School Choir on Friday, April 28 at 7.30 pm. Tickets will be on sale soon.