Sunday Worship

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Sunday Worship: Rebirth and Renewal in Senghenydd

Rebirth and Renewal in Senghenydd

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday Worship, Rebirth and Renewal in Senghenydd

Bishop June Osborne preaches in a service from St Peter's Senghenydd.

Bishop June Osborne preaches in a service from St Peter's Senghenydd exploring rebirth and renewal after trauma.

The community of Senghenydd near Caerphilly knows what it is to experience both trauma and revival. The scene of two of the UK's worst mining disasters, the first of which happened 120 years ago this year, it's the location of St Peter's church, a congregation which until recently had been in sharp decline and whose building stood at risk of closure. 

Just a few years after the 1901 mining disaster, in the last Welsh revival, this had been a place of such zeal that even the rugby team disbanded, its members more focussed on saving souls than scoring tries.

Tragically the shortcomings exposed in the first mining disaster were not resolved and in 1913 what remains the UK's most serious industrial disaster took place: hundreds of lives were lost. Their deaths resulted at the time in compensation payments to their families of just 1 shilling and 11 pence. 

Rugby began again in the town within a few years, while the mine closed in the late 1920s, and in recent years the town has erected lasting memorials to the men and boys who lost their lives. Now too at St Peter's church a new and young congregation is growing, supported by other churches in the Llandaff diocese. 

Bishop June Osborne preaches in a service exploring how after trauma can come rebirth and renewal. The service is led by Ministry Area leader Father Mark Greenaway Robbins, with contributions from members of the congregation including former miners.

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