Aug 11 Meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury in Gloucester Cathedral

There are a few things in life that are one off events that you can’t ever expect to happen to you.  Recently The Archbishop of Canterbury, visited Gloucestershire for a three day event.  We were invited to a private picnic with Archbishop Rowan, it happened as my church was randomly selected to invite a family to this special occasion.  That one family chosen was us.  Only 10 families were invited to this one hour picnic in the private cloister gardens.  At first I felt a little overwhelmed and wasn’t sure we were worthy of this.  I quickly decided though that it was a one off chance for the children to meet and chat with someone so important. 

As thoughts turned to the picnic I began thinking about preparing some nice snacks and getting myself a nice picnic basket!  Lakeland soon came to my rescue sending me a picnic basket, rug and plates set.  On the day  Meeting the Archbishop was an amazing experience, he was such a gentle, caring man that easily chatted with the children.  When we arrived we were taken through to the cloisters and it was decorated with chairs and beautiful bunting.  The children were spoilt with lots of cake and sweets along with our own picnics.  Erin who had just found her feet enjoyed taking those tentative steps and marching around the cloister!

The Archbishop arrived arrived and spent time with each family, he asked the children all about school and what they like doing.  Chloe had made some chocolate dipped strawberries and offered him one which he took and ate.

Chloe also put him on the spot asking him why bad things happen in the world. He gave her a good understanding of free will in his answer and was able to explain this in a suitable way for questioning tweenager to understand and consider.

The day was great and Gloucester Catherdral was alive with activities for families with some amazing music in the background and countless opportunities of the children to have fun.  It really was a one off opportunity.