MAGICAL MOMENTS
A new year is a lways a time of reflection. We hear from people who recall their best day of 2023 – you might be inspired for 2024!
STEPHEN COTTRELL
Archbishop of York
2023 was a bustling, busy and beautiful year, so it is hard to pick out just one day. But I’m going to pick Monday, May 22 when I was in Rome for the first time and had an audience with the Pope.
I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew the visit was taking place, but I also knew his health wasn’t good, and wondered whether we would just be ushered in, shake hands, share a few pleasantries, and that would be that. But it turned out to be rather more.
A car was sent from the Vatican to the Anglican Centre, where I was staying. We were waved through various security checkpoints, and in the inner courtyard of the Vatican there was actually a red carpet laid out on the steps. It may not have been put there specially for me, but I was suitably impressed.
My wife accompanied me. She is a potter, and as a present for the Pope, she had made a beautiful bowl with some words of Saint Francis of Assisi in praise of God, the Creator, inscribed around the rim. Several other colleagues from York were also with me.
When we had been ushered in, shaken hands and exchanged gifts, just as I thought the visit was probably over, the Pope invited us to sit down. For about half an hour, we spoke about things of common interest: the need to live lightly on the Earth, the need for Christian unity. ‘We must work together, walk together, and pray together,’ said the Pope. Then, as the meeting came to a close, we did just that and said the Lord’s Prayer.
It was only half an hour in a lovely day and part of a lovely visit, but it was deeply moving. We followed it with cappuccinos in a café nearby, then a rather lovely lunch, then other visits to other church leaders. We had another excellent dinner to end the day, polished off with a glass of grappa.
I am privileged to be able to make these visits and do what I can to try to help us all to live in peace with each other, and with the Earth itself.
All in all, it was a lovely day.
JOHN BRUCE
North Yorkshire Moors Railway volunteer
On May 1, 1973, I was the signalman at Goathland when the North Yorkshire Moors Railway formally celebrated the re-opening of the line bet ween Grosmont and Pickering, by running a royal train conveying the Duchess of Kent. At that time, we had a paid signalman (John Hardy) at Grosmont, and myself (a volunteer) at Goathland. The train had originally been planned to run from Whitby, but due to a national rail strike, was only able to run from Grosmont, and I had to rely on one of my fellow volunteers to transport me from my home in Darlington for the day, rather than catching a B
