Sea Sunday Service

Sea Sunday Service – Lympstone Harbour – Sunday 8th July at 11:30am.

Led by Revd. Geoffrey Wrayford. Music from the Lympstone Training Band. Collection in aid of the R.N.L.I. and the Mission to Seafarers. Refreshments will be served afterwards in the Sailing Club.

The Mission to Seafarers has its roots in the work of Anglican priest, John Ashley who in 1835 was on the shore at Clevedon with his son who asked him how the people on ships in the Bristol Channel could go to church. Recognising the needs of the seafarers on the four hundred sailing vessels in the Bristol Channel, he created the Bristol Channel Mission. He raised funds, and in 1839 a specially designed mission cutter named Eirene was built with a main cabin which could be converted into a chapel for 100 people.

His work inspired similar ministries in the UK, and it was decided in 1856 that these groups should be formally organised under the name The Mission to Seamen Afloat, at Home and Abroad. In 1858, this name was changed to The Missions to Seamen, and the organisation adopted its Flying Angel logo, still in use to this day.