I first met Helen in late 2019 when I used to go to a playgroup with my 2 youngest children. We got talking about general life and I had mentioned my children weren’t baptised and me and my partner really wanted to get married but we weren’t happy in our current church.

She spoke a little about her parish and welcomed us to come along, but then Coronavirus hit the world and put a stop to everything.

Once lockdown lifted completely, we attended St James’ as a family of five, it wasn’t long before we made the decision this was the church family we had always been looking for. It didn’t matter if you know a lot or nothing at all – you were welcomed, with a warm and comforted smile by so many people. Our children were allowed to be themselves which was important to us as the thought of having to make them sit still was scary but they are free to walk around as they please and play.

We spoke to Helen about our 3 children being baptised and she was more than happy to do so, as well as marry me and my partner.

The day of the baptism was so special, Phil and myself where blessed by Helen and our children where baptised it was so amazing, we got to share our special day in front of our families as well as our church family, also some could not attend so Helen arranged for a live video feed for them to watch.

It was important to us that our family were apart of such an amazing community of people and we have 100% found it. We really feel part of the family now St James’s and we both can’t wait to share our wedding day not only with our immediate family but also our church family.

Helen is a credit to our church and is the heart of it all and I’m proud to say we have made a life long friend in Helen and Tony.