• 08 March 2021

Bishop handed a silver trowel!

We’re halfway through Bishop David’s Lent Series in Nehemiah called ‘Hand me a trowel’ only to discover that a previous bishop was, literally, handed a silver trowel back in 1950.

The series was filmed in a recently refurbished Bangor Abbey and on 8 September 1950, the Bishop of Down and Dromore, the Rt Revd William Shaw Kerr, was presented with a silver trowel on the occasion of laying the foundation stone for the parochial hall.

When Bishop David named the series he explained that in the Book of Nehemiah, “Everybody’s involved in the work of building. They may not actually be builders, but they roll up their sleeves and they’re involved in this important work of building a people for God.”

Even, and perhaps especially, Bishops!