Pilgrimage to St. Andrews Bemerton

On Monday our group made a pilgrimage to the parish church of George Herbert, an early 17th century poet and priest.  His poems have become some of the most treasured hymns we sing today including "Come My Way, My Truth, My Life", "King of Glory, King of Peace" and "God of Love, My Shepherd Is".  His words have also become beloved anthems including "Love Bade Me Welcome". 

He became a priest late in his short life and served only one parish, in Bemerton just outside Salisbury.  A dedicated group of Herbert devotees have created the George Herbert Heritage Center (https://www.georgeherbert.org.uk/) to preserve his memory and legacy.  We were lucky to be able to meet with them at St. John's Place, about 1.5 miles from Salisbury.  Mr. Peter Webster gave a short talk about George Herbert and we were able to view the displays of information about George Herbert. 

We then took the short walk to the tiny church, St Andrew's Bemerton where we were greeted by Canon Judy Rees, founder of the Herbert Heritage Center and one of the original 32 women ordained in the Church of England in 1994.  We were thrilled to present her with a tapestry of George Herbert made by the Keiskamma Art Project in South Africa.  Bill and Kay Gilcher have had a long relationship with Keiskamma and spearheaded the gorgeous work.  There are two tapestries and one will now be in place at St. Andrew's Bemerton and the other will reside at St. Andrews, College Park MD.

Our final offering to the memory and legacy of George Herbert was the choir singing the anthem "Love Bade Me Welcome" within the walls of the church that Herbert loved so much.

Sunny Sunday

 On Sunday morning we were greeted with gorgeous sunny skies. After a proper English breakfast at the hotel, many of us headed over to the Cathedral for Eucharist. 

After a lovely service in gorgeous surrounding with fantastic music by the previous choir in residence, All The Kings Men from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the pilgrims spent the afternoon exploring and enjoying the lovely weather. Some went to Stonehenge and Old Sarum. Others explored the town and communed with local residents, two and four legged. 

On Sunday evening our Senior Warden, Mary Marshall Levy hosted a cocktail hour at her BnB just down the road. This was followed by a delicious welcome dinner for all pilgrims back at the hotel. Than the St. Andrew’s crawlers headed out for a Pub Crawl while many others headed to bed, tired and happy after a wonderful day. 

Settling in to Salisbury

 The intrepid travelers landed at London Heathrow very early on Saturday morning. We had folks coming in on three different flights and once we all met up we transferred to a luxury coach and got underway to Salisbury. On the way our driver took a short detour so we could glance at a famous local site  

By the time we arrived in Salisbury at 10:30 am it had started raining. We quickly unloaded our bags and piled into the Mercure White Hart Hotel. As it was so early we weren’t able to check but the hotel stores our bags and folks braved the rain to find lunch or pick up essentials they had forgotten. Some went and checked out the cathedral, just a five minute walk away. 

The hotel has a lovely lounge area with comfy seating so it became the gathering place after folks got their rooms. 

As they day went on the rain was not letting up so several of our group went and had dinner across the street at the nearby Bell and Crown Pub. The service was a bit slow but the company and food were excellent. 

After a long night and day of travel everyone was off to bed hoping the rain would soon end.