• 28 October 2016

St Mary’s Ballybeen celebrates its 50th anniversary

Around 140 parishioners and guests recently gathered in St Mary’s Ballybeen for a thanksgiving dinner to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the church. 

They were joined by Bishop Harold, Bishop Ken Clarke (a former curate of St Elizabeth’s) and a very special guest – 89 year old Isabel McCartney, pictured right and below. 

Back in June 1966, the then rector of St Elizabeth’s, Canon Herbie Frizelle, asked Isabel  to start a Sunday School in a wooden hut in the recently built Ballybeen estate on the edge of Dundonald. In October of the same year, the first service was held to celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving and St Mary’s was born!

Fifty years later, St Mary’s is a thriving, multi–generational congregation situated in the centre of the second largest housing estate in Northern Ireland. The church retains strong links with the local community it continues to serve.

Everyone enjoyed a wonderful evening of thanksgiving and celebration sharing five decades of memories with friends old and new and looking towards the future with expectation and hope.

Gathering
Gathering

 
Interview
Interview


Cake
Cake