President Chris Lilley is a member of the Church of England’s General Synod. Chris bumped into Archbishop Justin Welby during the General Synod’s summer meeting in York and found that he was attending a gathering in Mablethorpe in August: Chris took the opportunity to invite him to meet people from local churches!
Confirmation of the (short) visit came at short notice and Chris hurriedly invited local church leaders and representatives of the community to meet the Archbishop over breakfast at Dave’s restaurant – a well known feature of Mablethorpe life.. Chris had to collect the Archbishop and return him to Golden Sands Caravan Park within a sixty minute window.
Mablethorpe’s Town Crier welcomed the Archbishop and then President Chris introduced four speakers who each had just two minutes to talk about the town and ita problems. Deputy Mayor and District Councillor Tony Howard talked about aspects of deprivation including the new “bedroom Tax”. John Eames, chief executive of the Lincolnshire Credit Union explained how credit unions can help people with poor credit history obtain loans at a fair rate of interest. Then Nigel Collins, leader of Mablethorpe Christian Fellowship described the work of Furnichurch in providing furniture for those on a low income and how this has now been extended into a food bank for needy people. Finally Dot McMillan, chair of Churches Together talked about the major projects the local churches have developed including refurbishing homes and the Fun Day which offers free entertainment and food for families.
The Archbishop said he had been talking about credit unions for months but suddenly the media had picked up on it. He wants churches to get involved with their local credit union. He promised to take the points people had made to a meeting he is having with senior government ministers and was grateful for the insights he had received.
Concluding the breakfast the Town Mayor, Bernard Dobbs, said that the town had recently treated some Chernobyl victims to a free day out in Mablethorpe.