MY first introduction to the Diocese of Hereford was a caption competition in the Church Times. The photograph was taken at the May Fair. Every year there is a compulsory picture of the bishop and cathedral dean on the big wheel. In the picture, I saw the Rt Rev Richard Frith, my predecessor, and the former Dean of Hereford, the Very Rev Michael Tavinor sitting in a carriage on the big wheel – both looked rather ‘green’. I was highly amused by the caption: “Mick and Rick being sick!” Sadly, once again there will be no May fair, at least not in May this year. We are going to have a stab at holding it in August, when hopefully most people will have received their vaccinations and normal service can (hopefully) resume.
A HEREFORDSHIRE church could be home to a lost masterpiece, it has been claimed, after a signature was found on a painting undergoing restoration. After languishing for 200 years in Ledbury parish church, a gloomy painting on the north wall was hailed as a “lost” depiction of The Last Supper in 2018. And it could have been lost forever, rector at St Michael & All Angels, the Rev Keith Hilton-Turvey explained, as the picture had become “increasingly dark” over the years and some even believed the church “ought to get rid of it”. “It was thought to be of little value or merit, but some of the Friends of the church thought differently, he said.