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Fr Philip North and Peter Garvie with Canon Neil Heavisides and The Very Reverend Nick Bury at Gloucester Cathedral, one of the many visits they made across the country during their marathon cycle ride |
Father Phil takes on money changers
North-West cathedral was more like a betting shop, says fund-raising priest
IT was meant to be a trip done the old-fashioned way – two church men setting off on an arduous 1,000-mile journey to 29 cathedrals with only the kindness of strangers to fall back on.
And that is how Father Philip North’s two-week fundraising adventure, to raise money for a new café at St Michael’s Church in Camden Road, went – except for one thing.
Fr Philip and his pastoral assistant Peter Garvie left something of a storm behind them at Chester Cathedral after they called the reception they received there “disappointing”.
Yesterday (Wednesday) Fr Philip described it as “not what I would call a Christian welcome” after revealing they were expected to pay to enter the building and were met with “a row of tills” but no smiling faces.
Mr Garvie managed to sneak in without paying but Fr Philip decided to go elsewhere in search of a cup of tea and a cake.
Describing the experience on his blog, Fr Philip wrote: “I have to say that Chester Cathedral was the most disappointing so far, and we’re not talking architecture.
“It threw it down with rain the moment we arrived, the Dean and his entire staff were too busy to meet us and I couldn’t afford to get in.
“Arriving at Chester Cathedral is a bit like going to the betting office because the very first thing you’re confronted with is a row of cash tills.”
He joked that the Dean was likely to send them the bill now he knew Mr Garvie hadn’t paid the entry fee.
The Dean of Chester, The Very Rev Prof Gordon McPhate, later emailed Fr Philip to apologise, saying he had got the date of the visit mixed up, and offered to refund their entrance fee.
The rest of the trip was a success, said Fr Philip, despite cycling into a headwind and rain for the second week and being roasted in 30-degree sun throughout the first.
“The weather was not our friend,” he joked, but paid tribute to the hospitality they received across the country.
To make a donation or read Fr Philip’s blog, go to www.cathedralcyclechallenge.org |
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