On Mothering Sunday, Rev Kate Bottley is in Stockport, Greater Manchester, to meet mums and staff at Christian-inspired Charnwood Nursery where children with and without additional needs learn and play together. Kate discovers how the nursery’s inclusive ethos, founded on the principle that all children are equal in the eyes of God, is helping to support mums as they leave their little ones in someone else’s care for the first time.

Plus the remarkable story of Dr Io Smith, a Jamaican Christian who became a leading figure in Britain’s growing Pentecostal Church scene during the 1970s and 80s. She died on Mother’s Day in 2008 but her daughter, Rev Sheila Belgrave, was determined to turn her sadness into celebration as she remembers the remarkable legacy of faith that her mother left behind.

And Kate meets Lucy West, a Christian who always dreamed of having a big family but was left at an emotional rock bottom after struggling to conceive. She talks openly to Kate about the feelings of shame and loneliness that those going through fertility issues can experience, and of how her relationship with God ultimately helped her to find hope and healing.

Music featured:

1. Tell Out My Soul – St. John the Baptist, Tideswell
2. My Lighthouse – Reach Derby
3. Blessed Assurance – St Elisabeth’s Church, Reddish
4. O God, You Search Me and You Know Me – Leeds Cathedral
5. Good, Good Father - Kensington Temple.
6. Now Thank We All Our God – St. Martin’s, Stamford Show less