Romsey
Romsey is a friendly market town between Winchester and Salisbury and on the edge of the New Forest. In 2011 we moved into a small terraced cottage five minutes from its thousand years old glorious abbey and centre of the town. Chris and Nadine live twenty minutes away and Bazil and Zoe an hour and a half.
I enjoy being back in Hampshire and showing the family the house in Boscombe, where I was born. There is lots to explore, life in the abbey is vibrant and a number of interesting groups in the town to join.
On 30th November, the fiftieth anniversary of his consecration as a bishop, Donald presided at a Communion service in St Paul’s Cathedral. Richard Chartres, Bishop of London was keen Donald mark this milestone and preached at the service.
Postscript
Donald died peacefully at home on 18 July 2014. The Bishop of the Diocese of Upper Shire in Malawi spoke during a Thanksgiving Service in the Abbey in September.
Some of the people who knew Donald said of him: “He was really our loved Father; a wonderfully loving and caring priest; a man of God; a wonderful irritant for the Kingdom; the most remarkable and inspiring person I have ever met; his quiet wisdom and impish wit; I always came away feeling better about the world and myself; his twinkling eyes and infectious smile; his wonderful voice and singing sea-shanties”
Bishop of Upper Shire, Jane, High Commissioner for Malawi, Macdonald Banda, Bishop Trevor Mwamba
Malawi
In 2016, at the request of the Bishop of the Diocese of Upper Shire, some of Donald’s ashes were interred in a small stone pillar where he had lived. Bazil and Christopher attended the dedication ceremony.
Donald’s Memorial in Malosa, Malawi
Basil and Chris went out for the memorial service in 2015