St Mary's Church

Lovely chuch
Dec 14th, 2021

Dear St. Mary' Church, I am writing because, yesterday, at my local church, here in Virginia, USA, we had a short, on-line, noonday service, when the Minister - Rev. Anne Ritchie - made reference to the life and work of William Wilberforce, the slavery abolitionist and father of Samuel Wilberforce, who was one of the three bishops who were former vicars at St.Mary's Church. It so happens that my wife and I worship at The Church of the Good Shepherd, Burke, Virginia. Our church has, like your St. Mary's, produced three bishops of the Episcopal (Anglican) church. These are: Rt. Rev. David Co. Jones (our former rector and my namesake!); Rt. Rev. Jane Dixon (deceased) who was former Assistant Bishop of Washington DC and a former "curate" at Good Shepherd; and, Rt. Rev. Carolyn Irish, also a former "curate" at our church. You may wonder why I have contacted you, about this. My wife and I were married at your "namesake" church, St. Mary the Virgin, Carisbrooke, just a few miles from your own church. This was in 1957. I was born in Cowes and my wife, the former Gabrielle Mabey was born in Carisbrooke - on Clatterford Road, en route to Brighstone. We both attended the former County Secondary Grammar School , at Node Hill, Newport. I worked at the County Hall, Newport. Since then, my international work has taken us to many countries, including Uganda and Malawi, where we lived for a total of seven years. Since 1970, we have lived here, in Annandale, Virginia. We came here, to the USA because I worked at the World Bank and then was a Research Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University, in Cambridge, near to Boston. I am a lay minister at the Good Shepherd Church and my wife is an office volunteer, who prepares our Sunday service bulletins. We do not, like you, have a public house, called "The Three Bishops". I think that some of my grandmother's family lived in Brighstone and were associated with the former "Shotters Bus Company", which ran busses from Newport to Brooke and to Newchurch and Sandown. We send you many blessings and hope that you will forgive my intrusion into your lives, in Brighstone David C. Jones. ([email protected])
Sep 9th, 2020

Jan 18th, 2020

Jan 10th, 2020

Very nice place to visit and see all the beautiful Christmas trees to race money for charity
Dec 31st, 2019