Welcome_BMC

Alex Vaccaro joined our team as a newly ordained Curate after she was ordained in July 2010. She was ordained Priest in July 2011. This is what she has to say:

"Having lived in Kidderminster for 15 years and in Worcestershire all my life, it's fair to say that I'm no stranger to the Parish! However, church has been St. Michael's in Stourport since I was married there to Fil in 1994. I was Churchwarden there for 9 years, and then began to explore a vocation to ministry, which has led to three years of training at Queen's Foundation in Birmingham. This has been a wonderful experience, particularly because this ecumenical college takes students from all over the world, giving an amazing opportunity to learn with those of other traditions and from other countries. Now I am coming to end of my college training and - God willing - I will be ordained Deacon in Worcester Cathedral on 4th July and will be serving my title as Curate in the St. Mary's Kidderminster team. This is a really exciting move for me; I am very much looking forward to learning about the parishes and their people, to working with the ministry team and the congregations and to sharing in the life and work here as a non-stipendiary curate. I already live in the Parish, with my husband Fil; Fil's parents came from Italy, and we try to go back to visit the little Calabrian village where they came from every couple of years. We also love to spend time by the sea and are lucky enough to be able to make frequent trips to Wales, where we enjoy walking and relaxing in the beautiful scenery, together with our terrier-cross rescue dog, called Harry Potter.

Study has been taking a lot of commitment recently, but I still find time for favourite hobbies of cooking, gardening, walking and reading, and we also enjoy visiting National Trust and English Heritage sites and spending time with friends. The welcome I have already received from the Kidderminster parishes has been very warm and I hope to meet as many people as possible before long - although please be patient as I try to learn and remember names! Fil and I both look forward to being part of the Church here, and would ask your prayers for us at this exciting time of transition, as we will be praying for you all."

Friday, 15th January 2010, saw the 3rd Birthday Party of our L.E.P. These are a couple of photos of the evening's main activities - eating and bowling!

We are grateful to the members of St John's Methodist, Bloxwich, for the loan of their bowling alley, which one of their members made.

31st August 2008 was a very special day in the life of our church. On this day we celebrated 100 years of a site in Broadwaters dedicated to St Oswald. We were encouraged to dress in Edwardian costume for the occasion and even circumstances conspired to add to the atmosphere because we had a power cut part way through the service!

Here we see a group photo of everyone who attended the service, Reverends Rose Lawley (on the right, Vicar of St Oswalds) and Mary Austin (Minister of Broadwaters Methodist) cutting a cake that was made especially for the occasion and the cake before it was cut.

We are delighted that the Reverend Rose Lawley has been appointed as Vicar within the Parish team with responsibility for our Church and also as Industrial Chaplain.

Rose was born in Brierley Hill, but moved with her family to Kinver just before her fifth birthday. As a child she attended St Peter's Church in Kinver and went to Sunday School both there and at the Methodist Church. Later, she was to become the Treasurer, a Churchwarden and, in 1997, was licensed as a Reader.

During her training as a Reader, Rose felt called to the ordained ministry and went to Queens Theological College in Edgbaston. She was ordained Deacon on 28th June, 2003, in Lichfield Cathedral, and priested in 2004 at the Parish Church of St Thomas, Wednesfield.

Until her new appointment, Rose was an Assistant Curate in the United Benefice of Kinver and Enville and Assistant Chaplain to the Black Country Urban Industrial Mission.

When Rose read the advert for her new appointment in the Church Times, she immediately felt that this was where she should be and what she had trained and worked for.

Rose met her husband, John, at a Manfred Mann concert in the 1960's and they were married at St Mary's Church, Oldswinford, John's Parish Church. They have two sons, two grandchildren and a third on the way.

Sunday, 14th January 2007, was an extremely important day in the lives of St Oswald's C of E and Broadwaters Methodist. This was the day when we formally signed a Covenant creating a Local Ecumenical Partnership between our two Churches.

The Service was in two parts, the first being at the Methodist Chapel. This picture shows Rev Mary Austin saying some words of welcome. Also in the picture, from left to right, Canon Owain Bell (Team Rector), Rev John Howard (Chair, Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury District of the Methodist Church) and Rt Rev Peter Selby, the Bishop of Worcester.

Here we see the above mentioned, together with Rev David Ryan, leaving the Methodist Church to process to St Oswalds C of E (about 5 -10 mins walk) for the second part of the service.

The Procession is seen here in Broadwaters Park, half way between the two Churches.

Here , two copies of the Covenant document are being signed by all the interested parties.

In Honour of the occasion, a cake was baked by one of the ladies of St Oswald's and iced by one of the ladies of Broadwaters Methodist. A truly ecumenical process!

A poster in St Oswald's Church, reminding us all of what the whole day was about.

On October 8th 2006, our former curate, the Reverend Alice Goodman, was licensed as the new Chaplain of Trinity College, Cambridge.

The Licensing service took the form of a choral evensong and the Licensing was undertaken by the Bishop of Ely, the Right Reverend Anthony Russell.

Reverend Alice is held in very high regard and testament to that fact is that 91 people from all five Churches in our Parish travelled to Cambridge for the service.