BRC Annual Report
Borderlands Rural Chaplaincy, Chaplaincy Report
(May to September 2026)
Personnel
Paul Trenberth and Nick Read took part in the shortlisting and interviewing of the Chirbury/Chaplaincy post. Richard Lonsdale was the only candidate, but it was a unanimous verdict of the interview panel that he be appointed. Richard has accepted the post and will be licensed on Monday October 5th. We are liaising with the Bishop’s Chaplain to see what part BRC might play in the licensing service.
We are also in discussions with Mark Godson, the Ministry Development Officer, about what sort of support mechanisms we can put in place for Richard. This has not progressed over the summer as Richard has been on holiday and Mark has been ill, but we hope to have something in place before the end of September.
We have also been in discussion with Luci Morriss, Geoff Holder’s training incumbent, about support arrangements for Geoff and a meeting is being scheduled for early October to discuss these.
A joint Management Group/Mucky Boots meetings has been arranged for Wednesday 30th September. This will be the first of the proposed new meetings between the Management Group and the chaplains.
David Morris, the rural lead for Worcester Diocese, was coming up to retirement and would be locating to his home country, Wales, just over the border from the Golden Valley. He had indicated that he would like to join the Chaplaincy team in his retirement and David and Nick were following up the conversation. We work with David on the Three Counties Church Tent and he is a very experienced rural minister.
Finance
The Royal Countryside Fund money had been received, and Nick had participated in an online seminar with their new Programme Manager, Gareth Davies. We contributed to their assessment of the state of agriculture.
We had been invited to participate in the Defra-funded Farmer Welfare Grant by Herefordshire Rural Hub. However, on looking at the application form we decided that it was too complex a process for the money involved. The Hub were very understanding and are still writing us into the bid as a collaborative partner, which may qualify us for funding dispensed via the Hub rather than paid directly into our account.
Butty Van (BV) developments
Discussions were underway for BV number 4, hosted by Geoff, and his team will be visiting BV2 in October to see how the BV’s work in practice.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is visiting the Diocese in October and Paul Trenberth is hoisting her at a special BV1 being set up for the occasion.
Commissioning of new Chaplains
Nick had spoken to the Bishop who was keen to participate but the proposed September dates had not been possible. Should we look for dates towards the end of 2026/early in 2027?
Pastoral Load
The farming industry was facing difficult times and the drought conditions over the summer had contributed to a relatively poor harvest, poor grazing (farmers were having to feed winter fodder much earlier than expected) and a spate of farm fires. The Chaplaincy team was in demand and playing a useful role.
Events/Networking
Nick had meet the Bishop’s PA for the House of Lords (Bishop Richard was now the Church of England spokesman in the Lords for rural issues) and briefed her on the work of the Chaplaincy.
A successful Three Counties Show took place on 12th to 14th June. Bob Bates (one of the volunteer chaplains) coordinated the chaplaincy team for the show, and he and David represent BRC on the Three Counties Church Tent Committee.
In our discussions with the Rural Hub concerning the Defra Farmer Welfare bid, the Hub was willing to bid for funds to re-launch the event that we used to jointly host at the Farm Business Advice Day in Hereford, when we contacted all local organisations involved in pastoral care with the farming community and shared information and contact details.