There was a Celebration Service in Bristol Cathedral on Saturday 23rd April 2016 with the Bishop of Bristol presiding, the Lord Mayor of Bristol and the Mayor of Chippenham were also in attendance. The Mothers’ Union (MU) was first established in the Bristol Diocese in 1898 when there were 12 branches and around 400 members. Today there are 34 branches and 720 members. Members support our Diocesan projects either by volunteering or by raising funds and giving donations. There are 82 members who volunteer to be at Bristol Cathedral so every week day visitors are met and made welcome by MU members.

MU members started the Friends for Parents scheme at Bristol Children’s Hospital providing a friendly face, supplies of tea and coffee and practical help for parents who arrive from all over the country. Donations of toys, clothes, sometimes furnishings (for the RISE project in Chippenham), tea and coffee (for Friends for Parents in Bristol Children’s Hospital), rice and tins of fish (Asylum Seekers in Bristol) come from all over the Diocese and many members are busy knitting children’s jumpers to go overseas to orphanages, to refugees and others in need. This year the Mothers’ Union will provide coaches for a day by the sea for families from deprived areas across the Diocese, meaning that children who’ve never previously seen the sea will enjoy a day at the seaside. And at Christmas the Mothers’ Union gave out Nativity story books to all the children in Reception classes at Christ Church Infants, School, to Jigsaw Toddlers and the Monday Toddlers “Edds and Tales”, to all the children at Messy Church and to the children who attend Bible Club at the Infants’ school.