WARRINGTON’S popular Borough Minister Rev. Stephen Kingsnorth has been made a Freeman of the Borough.
Members of Warrington Borough Council unanimously endorsed the proposal put forward by deputy leader of the council Mike Hannon, which was second by Cllr Peter Carey. Various tributes were made to Stephen.
Lib Dem leader Cllr Bob Barr described him as the “Holy ghost and guardian angel of Warrington” due to the number of community events and activities he was involved in.
“I can’t think of any other citizen more deserving of this title,” he added.
His fondness of buffets was also touched upon several times during numerous tributes.
Council leader Terry O’Neill felt Rev Kingsnorth’s role as a trustee of the Wolves’ Foundation “Wolf it up” initiative was a most appropriate one, especially as it encouraged healthy eating.
Stephen, who was joined at the event by his wife Denise, their three children and various friends, was presented with a framed scroll by Mayor Cllr Geoff Settle, who thanked him for his support and advice during his mayoral year.
Stephen arrived in Warrington to minister at Bold St Methodist Mission in September 1992; the newly-arrived town centre clergy, of all denominations, met and agreed to work together wherever possible.
In March 1993 the Bridge Street bombing occurred, and thereafter faith relationships with statutory bodies blossomed.
Recognising and responding to circumstance, the Church showed itself flexible and alert. Relationships and networks developed with the community, and principally with key-holders in strategically important institutions, leading to invitations to join, or chair, decision-making bodies where the faith community had never before been represented – with Stephen playing a leading role.
After 12 years, he was ready to leave the Mission, but the Methodist Church did not want to vacate that wider ministry within the borough, so asked him to remain in the role of Warrington Borough Ministry (WBM) as a representative available to serve and a resource for acts of spiritual reflection. It is on that basis that activity, events, appointments, invitations emerged. The town centre clergy initiated the formation of Churches Together Warrington after unitary status was achieved and WBM was appointed Borough Liaison Officer.
Stephen was instrumental in the establishment of the Council of Faiths, serving as its secretary and administrator. That Council of Faiths appointed Stephen as faith adviser to the Borough Council. He represented the Council of Faiths on Remembrance Sunday, supplied WBC with a Faith Calendar of festival dates, organises worship site tours when schools request, attends faith festivals as able and maintains the Warrington Faith Communities’ Directory. Over the years he has organised celebrations, dramas, briefings, and dialogue evenings he has attended Council meetings over 20 years, building relationship with members, officers and staff, leading reflections when the Mayor’s chaplain. WBM was asked to chair the Town Hall debate between Cheshire County and Warrington Borough when Unitary status was under consideration in the late 90s.
He attends Citizenship Ceremonies to greet candidates, support the visiting VIP, and help sing the National Anthem! Amongst other bodies, he has served on the Refugee Officer Working Group, the Older People Partnership Board and is a former Chair of the Member Remuneration Panel.
He has organised or led commemoration observations when significant world events suggest, in co-operation with or at the request of the Borough Council – the Bridge St bomb commemoration in 1993 through to its 20th anniversary, commemorations for Princess Diana’s death, the Tsunami, bombings, the Holocaust memorial, WWII anniversary and the British Legion Bikers’ War Memorial reflection. In the early days he was invited to organise and lead the dedication of the Pyramid and the River of Life pedestrianisation scheme.
In Mayoral Chaplaincy, appointed by various mayors through the years, he has visited twin towns, with an annual island of Ireland visit to Lisburn, organised, for council meetings, interfaith reflections from women faith adherents, the first time ever that women have contributed in that role.
He has also been active in the Town Centre Management Board and its predecessors for over 20 years, as its secretary and Chair, serving on all its working groups. In turn he has worked with the Neighbourhood Programme Board and governance oversight of neighbourhood working, starting service with the Central Board under the Stronger Together initiative.
Within the media WBM is faith adviser to Radio Warrington and he has done some ‘pause for thought’ broadcasts while online broadcasting. When warrington worldwide came on the scene he wrote a ‘cyberchurch’ feature for a long time.
He has visited the island of Ireland with civic parties, the Male Voice Choir, Terry Waite, the Town Centre Clergy,
holding conversations with former paramilitaries and joined the official Warrington attendance at Gordon Wilson’s
funeral, and shared in Warrington’s relationship with Belfast, Dublin, Omagh and Lisburn.
Stephen also chaired The Bridge Peace group which organised an annual Fleadh, hostedvisits by President Robinson & Martin McGuinness, and still helps finance the annual Peace Cup football match, alternating venues at Lisburn and Warrington Football Club.
Some years ago Warrington Borough Transport named buses after those they termed ‘local heroes’ and one such bus was named ‘the Reverend Stephen Kingsnorth’.
Stephen said he was “shocked and thrilled” when he heard about the Freedom of the Borough which he described as a “privilege and an honour.”
Although he was born a southerner he considered Warrington to be his “adopted home.”
He formally retires from his role this coming June when he plans to “disappear quietly.”
Rev Kingsnorth receives his scroll from Mayor of Warrington Geoff Settle.
3 Comments
Congratulations on your honour Stephen – richly deserved and you will be an extremely hard act to follow.
I will miss you at the buffets!!
Wendy and I, our children and grandchildren owe a debt of gratitude to so many good people in this proud town for helping and supporting us to build the Foundation and its home at the Peace Centre. The Rev Stephen Kingsnorth has always played a very significant part in the town’s collective efforts in achieving so much good from so much tragedy and we wish him well in his retirement
Congratulations Stephen you have been my faith adviser ( I certainly need a lot of advice) and have become a very good friend of the Mayoress and myself. I remember last year when I couldn’t understand a reading I was about to read before I took to the pulpit. You set the scene for me and the congregation before I went up and made sense and put the ancient reading in context. Afterwards you told me that I was the first ever Mayor or anyone else who had questioned a reading before they read.
I gave you a challenge at the start of the year to have a different member of different faiths to read their reflection at the start of each Full Council. Not only have you done this but they have all been women. You not only achieved the goal set but you exceeded it.
Finally when we attended High Mass at St Mary’s it really was all latin to me but I had a very painful knee especially when I had to get up from a seated position. We seemed to be getting up and down every few minutes and the make things worse being on the front row the incense was affecting my breathing as I am an asthmatic. You told me that I could stay seated. Five minutes later you were gesticulating – oh I forgot you must stand for this bit of the service ouch!
I will miss your wonderful funny stories and perhaps most of all the day at the crematory with the wall of cardboard bricks and balloons it was inspiring for all the families who attended. You asked if people could be quiet at certain parts unfortunately we got talking to the family on our table because I notice the fun runs that the youngsters had received in the morning when they had run a race in memory of their father who had died the year before. I think I hear the words that people use when I’ve been naughty “Geoffrey” – I went home logged on to my Mayoral Charity Giving page and donated £20. I have done that once or twice since that day.