Fond farewells

On Sunday 11 February we held a special service in St. John’s Maesbrook to say farewell to our Rector, Revd Chris Precious, his wife Laura and the three children and also to our curate, Revd Pippa White. After the service we repaired to the Village Hall in Maesbrook for drinks and nibbles and speeches.

Pippa has only been with us since June 2022 but we shall miss her relaxed and cheerful approach and we shall also miss Freddie her dog who has made regular appearances at our services and kept us all amused.

Chris joined us back in June 2019 and he and his family quickly threw themselves into the life of the community in our five villages. If there was anything going on they were always there lending their support and cheerfully joining in.

Chris is a man of great personal faith and the way he has led our services has always drawn people in to worship along side him. His sermons have always been direct and to the point and have never failed to both challenge and encourage.

He was a great help to us all during the pandemic organising online worship on Facebook and YouTube and enabling the fellowship of the churches to continue when we were not able to meet face to face. For this we are all very grateful.

Chris and Laura have been keen to reach out to young families through events like Coffee Stop that meets on Tuesday mornings and the monthly Family Services that has now become a regular event.

We shall all miss both Pippa and Chris and his family but we wish them well as they move on to take up their new roles in the Benefice of Fauls, Tilstock and Whitchurch in North Shropshire.

May God go with them and richly bless their ministry in these three parishes.