Amazing story in my local paper this week - local CofE school had 2 very impressive unexpected visitors...

[WendyWeber]

Archbishops of Canterbury & York

I bet it crossed the head's mind to wonder if they were real or not (Archbishopograms perhaps )

What a lovely story though

BUMP!!!!!

Typical. You wait all year for an archbishop to turn up and then two come at the same time

Bee-limey.

wow. reminds me of the time when i was teaching my year 5 class, when who should turn up at the door on a tour of the school...terry waite!

ROFL Emsmum!

Actually I should have made that the title!

If nobody else spots this I might just repost with that

re: " bet it crossed the head's mind to wonder if they were real or not "

I guess it mighter... (terrible pun there!)

i hoped it was going to be the chuckle brothers....

(That was to Mary but applies to you too, allie!)

noonar, why was TW there and what did he say to you?

how lovely - the archbish of york is our archbish - he's great!

oh, that is a nice story! Sentamu (sp?) talks an awful lot of sense.

Lovely story. PP whispers I made John Sentamu's first cope, mitre and stole when he was made Bishop of Stepney and then did it again when someone stole them.

How much would you charge for a cassock and surplice? (she says hopefully...)

Really, PP? Blimey. It would never have occurred to me that they would be made by individuals, but thinking about it they're not exactly mass-market items, are they

How awful to steal something like that - how pointless.

!!!

Mary, I'm afraid it was in my previous existence as an Ecclesiastical Furnisher in London and I've been out of it rather for about 7 years now. My mother's priest used J&M sewing I think for his Canon's cassock and it was a lot better than the one which came from Watts.

I can still give advice on church embroidery and what to do about restoration, but can't actually do it myself!

Lol, quite a shock for the headteacher! When we lived in Canterbury we used to see the then Archbishop, Michael Ramsay, quite often. He used to be v fond of WH Smith's, standing and reading mags and papers for ages.

I ran the workrooms for one of the only companies in the country which still handmade vestments and had fantastic embroideresses who generally worked from home all round the country - one was in Lincoln and one was in Newton Abbott - which meant I had to get out of London occasionally to visit them.

We also used to have our own fabrics woven including the most fantastic silk damasks and tapestries, all to designs of the original founders in the 1870s. It was great to go up to the weavers and play around with colour and fibres. We even got a cloth of gold produced which was better than the stuff we could import from India.

John Sentamu was in his bit of London having done a service in the evening and had put his case down on the pavement (also included his crozier I think) while he sorted himself out and some stupid thug ran off with it - but I bet they had a surprise when they got it home, there's not much market value in church vestments!

Message withdrawn

"The Archbishop of Canterbury said lunchtime Grace for Year 5, and the whole experience was as magical as it was unexpected."
Do you think he turned the water into squash, or made the plates fly around the room?

So someone stole a stole?

Oh I don't know PP, vestments always seem to fetch a high price on Ebay! I'd heard J&M sewing was the place (on both price and quality) to get cassock/surplice but I really don't have £250+ to spend. My vicar says the PCC will buy me a cassock alb and my preaching scarf, but I need a cassock/surplice for licensing and any services I attend at the cathedral in an official capacity. I can't see my (agnostic) husband agreeing to let me spend that sort of money from our savings!

Emsmum - that's what I thought "stole a stole"

I like +Sentamu too, he always comes across well. But then so do some of the other bishops (although there are still a few stinkers around, +Dow is a prime example)

noonar - I saw Terry Waite a few times when I was on my way to college. My bus took me through his hometown of Blackheath.