Burypilgrim

I wonder what you think about when you think of Bury. Perhaps, you have lived in the town all your life or perhaps you are a new arrival, or perhaps you have never been.

The most fundamental call on my life is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” and “with all your mind“. Love God with all my mind. What I think about matters.

Paul gives some important advice about thinking in his letter to the Philippians. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

So, as I have been walking through Bury on my pilgrimage, I have become determined to think about such things. And now, after seven walks, when I think about Bury, I think of:
1) Community initiatives and partnerships seeking to strengthen and build community, such as Fishpool, Goshen, Redvales and Springs Community Hub at Gigg Lane and the ROC Centre in Radcliffe
2) Individuals and groups caring for nature and the environment, such as the Chesham and Kirklees Local Nature Reserves, Church Wood, and many people just nurturing beauty in their gardens
3) Businesses with strong principles that value and invest in their employees and contribute to their local community, such as Milliken; Miller’s Vanguard; Viridor Waste Management; and Recycling Lives.
4) Schools, colleges and youth projects with strong vision for nurturing and developing children and young people, such as primary and secondary schools, post- 16 colleges; Sea Cadets; and the Enterprise Centre
5) Impressive places that are set up to care for and value people at the later part of their lives , such as Six Town Housing’s Peachment Place and Bury Hospice
6) Great recreation spaces where people can walk, play and relax such as Clarence Park; Elton Reservoir; Close Park; Holcombe Hill; Hoyles Park; and Miss Walker’s Field
7) George Peachment, a Bury lad, who was the second youngest man to receive the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery after he died, aged just 18, trying to rescue his Captain during the Battle of Loos in September 1915

When I think of Bury…….