NEWS BRIEFS

First black woman bishop in C of E

Congratulations to the new Bishop of Dover and the new Bishop of Reading!

A joyful celebration took place at St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday morning for the consecration of Rose Hudson-Wilkin and Olivia J Graham. The Archbishop of York was the preacher.

The Archbishop of Canterbury tweeted – “Absolute joy to consecrate the new Bishops of Reading and Dover! Bishop Olivia and Bishop Rose, it’s a privilege to be serving alongside you. Be assured of our prayers in all you do to share the love, hope and good news of Jesus Christ.”

Niamh (8) completes every Northern Ireland park run to raise cash for Uganda

An eight-year-old girl who vowed to complete every park run in Northern Ireland before her ninth birthday has completed her challenge.

When Niamh Lemon started in April there were 28 runs ahead of her. On Saturday she ran the last at Orangefield Park in Belfast, raising over £3,300 for charity.

But the young Dundonald Primary School pupil is not finished yet.

Two new park runs in Ballyclare and Strabane have been added to the total since the starting gun fired – and fleetfooted Niamh will run them, too, before her birthday on Christmas Day.

By the end Niamh will have run 140km and will have travelled over 1,700 miles for the park runs – the equivalent of going from John O’Groats to Land’s End and back again.

Her dad, civil servant Stephen Lemon, has been with his amazing daughter every step of the way.

“We’re really delighted,” he said.

“Niamh’s very happy, very proud of her achievement.”

The little girl first set off in April at Victoria Park in east Belfast.

She has now raised £3,385 for Water For Kids, a charity which helps provide clean water in Uganda.

It was established 20 years ago to provide safe water and works with communities in African countries to dig wells, protect water sources, build toilets and deliver hygiene education.

Water For Kids has already transformed the lives of over 390,000 people in 154 communities in nine countries.

Almost 200 people contributed to reaching Niamh’s impressive fundraising total.

The thousands of pounds Niamh has raised will give three communities in Uganda a clean drinking water supply for the first time.

“This makes a huge difference. People will no longer become ill from easily prevented diseases, and with the money they save on not buying medicines they can use it to benefit their communities” Stephen said.

“This will improve their agriculture as well, and with the kids being healthy they can attend school more often.

“Hopefully there will also be a reduction in blindness as new born babies will no longer have to be washed in dirty water.

“Clean drinking water will also help with hygiene in the rural communities, meaning that fewer children go blind, fewer children die from preventable diseases – and the communities have a reliable have a water source for their agriculture.

“The donations are changing the lives of thousands of people for the better.”

After her Christmas birthday, Niamh plans to take a break from her charity fundraising exploits.

Belfast school’s Gentleman’s Award

Belfast Boys Model School ‘Gentleman’s Award’ was given to these fine young men yesterday morning. They came to the rescue of a distressed, elderly lady in the Seaview area of North Belfast on Saturday night. They phoned the police and waited with her until they arrived! The school is rightly proud of them.

BB Queen’s Men supporting World Toilet Day

Queen’s Men of the Boys Brigade in Northern Ireland are supporting “toilet twinning” at BB Newport to help 2.3 billion world wide who don’t have a toilet.

Kildare Pope John Paul Awards

Over two nights 371 Award Recipients from Kildare diocese will receive their JP2Award at the Tenth Anniversary celebrations in CarlowCathedral

Choral delights

Phoenix Choir concert in Reformed Presbyterian Church, Dublin Rd., Belfast