What an achievement and what an opportunity to celebrate!
Mary Sumner founded the Mothers’ Union in 1876 and by 1889 it had spread to Dioceses throughout the country – Lichfield being one of the first. In June 1889 the Reverend F. George Inge, Vicar of this Parish, enrolled eight members at St. Thomas’ Church and Berkswich Branch began its journey.
His vision echoed that of Mary Sumner and in the (still available!) parish magazine he wrote:
“The chief object of the Mothers’ Union is to band all mothers together, rich and poor, to bring up their children from babyhood in habits of prayer, modesty and chastity. We all need bright pure homes, which our children may look back to all their lives, when they are obliged to meet the thousand temptations of the outer world”
So where do we stand today? Would Reverend Inge be pleased with how his branch has flourished? The issues facing families locally, nationally and internationally have changed of course, but the core values of the Mothers’ Union, underpinned by prayer, remain the same – as a Christian membership charity we demonstrate our faith in action by working at grassroots level around the world supporting families through times of adversity.
Need some examples of our work internationally?
- Literacy & Financial Education programme – Burundi
- Tackling female genital mutilation – Kenya
- Health programmes (e.g. TB, malaria prevention,
- HIV/AIDs awareness) – Papua New Guinea
- Vocational skill training – Myanmar
and locally at Berkswich:
- Fundraising for MU projects
- Supporting Staffordshire Women’s Aid with school clothing, bedding and toiletries
- Helping our church school, Berkswich, by purchasing a new laptop
- Putting together Christmas “treat” boxes for the Stafford Community Food Bank
- Supporting our members with prayer and fellowship
We like to think the Reverend Inge would be pleased with the work of Berkswich Mothers’ Union over the last 135 years.
I am sure he would be shocked that we include men, wear jeans, use make-up and have a mobile phone in our handbags but duly recognise that our core values haven’t changed at all!
Some photos of our gathering at St Thomas’ Church, Walton-on-the-Hill, Stafford on Wednesday26th June 2024
