11th December, 2021 - Carol Singing at Coleman’s Garden Centre

A number of parishioners from Kilbride went to Coleman’s Garden Centre in Templepatrick this afternoon to join with members of Ballyclare Presbyterian Church to sing Carols to the Christmas shoppers. This was a new location for the combined choir which was fund-raising for Christian Aid and it was a very successful and enjoyable afternoon for everyone who took part.

10th December, 2021 - Switching on the Christmas Tree Lights

It was a cold evening at Kilbride this evening but a good number of parishioners and friends assembled outside the Parish Hall to watch the Christmas tree lights being switched on. The evening’s proceedings began inside the hall with the singing of Carols accompanied by Ballyclare Victoria Flute Band. Then it was outside into the cold again where Councillor Vera McWilliam was on hand to begin the countdown and the tree lights were illuminated once again to start the festivities at St Bride’s. Not long after a bell was heard and soon Santa Claus appeared out of the darkness, much to the delight of everyone there. He made his way into the hall and, finding his seat in his grotto, he soon began giving out presents to all of the children there. Refreshments were served and a very enjoyable evening was had by all.

27th November, 2021 - Sponsored Cycle Around the Rural Deanery

21st November, 2021 - Dedication of Wall Plaque in Memory of Mr. Sam Boyd

Mr. Sam Boyd was a parishioner in St Bride’s for many years and was a regular worshipper on Sunday mornings, usually sitting near the back of the church near the door. He lived alone on a small farm on the Ballymena Road near Browndod, a few miles out of Doagh. Sadly with failing health he found he could no longer attend services but he continued to take an interest in the life of the church. As his health deteriorated further he needed more practical assistance and so he moved to the Lakeview Nursing Home in Crumlin where he was well looked after. He spent the last few years of his life in this nursing home and passed away there on 19th February, 2017. He was interred in Ballymena cemetery following a service in Stevenson’s Funeral Home conducted by our Rector. Sam left a very generous legacy to St Bride's in his will, to be administered by the Select Vestry, and to be used for the good of the church and its work as and when required. It was felt that his generosity should be acknowledged publicly and a suitable memorial plaque was commissioned and installed on the wall of the church close to where Sam sat. This plaque was dedicated to the glory of God and in Sam’s memory at this morning’s Sunday service with his neice, Retha Flavell-Robinson and her husband William, having been invited to attend. Sam will be fondly remembered by all who knew him and his legacy will be put to good use in the years to come.

9th October, 2021 - Sponsored Cycle Cheque Presentation

Valerie Saunders, from the NI Chest, Heart and Stroke charity, came to St Bride’s this afternoon to accept a cheque for £5,000 from the five cyclists who took part in a sponsored cycle around the Antrim rural deanery on 4th September, a distance of 83 miles! Valerie was delighted to receive the cheque on behalf of the charity at a time when many charities have been struggling to raise funds during the pandemic. The cyclists represented three separate churches namely St Bride’s in Kilbride, Christ Church in Ballynure and All Saints’ in Antrim.

Pictured above from left to right are Rev. Canon David Humphries, David Holmes, Simon and Yvey Wells, Lisa Holmes, Peter Gates and Valerie Saunders.

8th October, 2021 - Visit to Armagh

St Bride’s rambling group’s season finished back in early September but a special trip was arranged to visit Armagh and to have a guided tour of St Patrick’s cathedral and a number of associated buildings nearby. The group assembled at the cathedral for a 10:00 am start and were directed to the Robinson library just outside the cathedral grounds. This library was built by the then Archbishop Richard Robinson in 1772 and it contains a vast collection of reference books that was made available to the general public for research and this is the case to this day. The group was welcomed to the library by the Dean of the cathedral, the Very Rev. Shane Forster, who preached in St Bride’s at last year’s harvest thanksgiving. After a very informative talk on the library everyone moved on to No. 5 Vicars’ Hill which was formerly a registration building for the church but has been converted to a museum. The last stop was the cathedral itself and after a very informative talk on the history of this very impressive building there was time to walk around to absorb some of the history of what is the ecclesiastical centre of Anglican Church in Ireland.

After lunch everyone took the bus to Navan Fort, a few miles outside the city, to the start of the pilgrimage route of what is known as St Patrick’s Way. This is a walk of approximately 82 miles from Armagh to Downpatrick and it links many locations associated with Ireland’s patron saint. The walkers were able to start this pilgrimage by walking the first short section back into Armagh. It was a very enjoyable day and hopefully one that will be repeated in the near future. Hopefully everyone will be able to walk the complete route culminating in a visit to Down cathedral.

4th October, 2021 - Parish Hall

The restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have meant the Parish Hall hasn’t been used for normal activities for some time so it presented an opportunity to have the interior completely re-decorated ahead of the anticipated lifting of restrictions. It has been re-painted and new blinds and curtains have been fitted bringing it back to pristine condition.

26th September, 2021 - Harvest Thanksgiving

Since last year’s Harvest Thanksgiving service in St Bride’s Covid-19 restrictions have eased significantly and at this morning’s service of Morning Prayer the church was filled almost to capacity (as determined by the current Covid-19 restrictions). The church was tastefully prepared by the church wardens for this special service with the sanctuary being the focal point for the main harvest decorations. Rev. Canon John R. Aughmuty, Rector of St Columba’s at Knock, was the guest preacher for the service and he took the parable of the sower as the theme for his sermon. The choir sang a wonderful rendition of the harvest anthem, ‘Thou Visitest the Earth’ by Maurice Greene, accompanied by Timothy Wilson.

12th September, 2021 - Sunday School

The Sunday School children in St Bride’s finally got to meet again face-to-face this morning after a long break of 18 months. The Covid-19 restrictions have been easing gradually to the point where Eleanor and Ashley were able to welcome the children back to the Parish Hall. Sunday School had been conducted in a limited way during lock-down using ‘Zoom,’ but it is not the same as being in the same room with the children and both teachers were delighted to see everyone again.

7th September, 2021 - St Bride’s Rambling Group (Rathlin Island)

St Bride’s Rambling Group had its last walk today and visited Rathlin Island for the first time, with a large party numbering 18 making the trip. It was an early start to be at the slipway for 9:30am but everyone made it on time. The forecast was for a warm and sunny day and Ballycastle harbour was bathed in early morning sunshine as everyone boarded the Spirit of Rathlin ferry for the 35 minute trip across to the island. The ferry was fully booked and passengers included a party of around 48 from Grimsby in England. On docking in the harbour in Church Bay it was a short walk up to find the bus which took everyone to the West Light where the bird sanctuary run by the RSPB is located. A number of walkers who hadn’t been there before descended the long flight of steps down to the observation gallery, overlooking the rocks, to view the birds below. Sadly no puffins were there as their breeding season was at the start of the summer. The remainder of the ramblers started on the 4.5 mile walk back to Church Bay, stopping off for lunch at picnic tables overlooking the harbour. Sadly what started as a bright, sunny day slowly changed as sea mist and low cloud began to roll in, obscuring the view and creating a very damp atmosphere. Luckily it was still pleasantly warm and the walkers continued to explore the island, with a number venturing as far as the East Light, well that’s what the sign said as the lighthouse itself couldn’t be seen in the very low cloud, even only 30 metres away. Dropping lower to the harbour area it was much brighter with only the higher parts of the island obscured and there was an opportunity to walk a short distance to view seals swimming just 100 metres from the rocky beach. As the time approached for the last ferry back to Ballycastle the various small groups came back together again at the slipway, exchanging stories of where they had been and what they had seen. With all accounted for the ferry pulled away from the island at 5:00pm just as the mist and low cloud was lifting to be replaced by a blue sky. However twenty minutes later the island disappeared completely as the sea mist once again engulfed it. By the time the ferry was docking in Ballycastle the mainland was almost completely clear of any mist and it was a lovely September evening. To finish off the day everyone enjoyed a fish supper or similar from the very popular chip shop at the harbour. A thoroughly enjoyable day was had by all and it will definitely be a trip that will be repeated in the future.

4th September, 2021 - L’Etape du Deanery Sponsored Cycle

David Holmes, our Parish Reader in St Bride’s , organised a sponsored cycle around the churches in Antrim rural deanery to raise funds for the N.I. Chest, Heart and Stroke charity. The cycle, with the very French title of L’Etape du Deanery, started and finished at St Bride’s near Doagh and the route took the cyclists to all 14 churches in the rural deanery. The Bishop of Connor, the Rt Rev. George Davison, very kindly took time out of a rare day’s holiday to meet the riders at the gates of the See House, a short distance into the cycle, and wished them well on their journey. They were greeted by clergy and/or parishioners at a number of locations and were very grateful for water and snacks as well as for the moral support. St Jude’s even laid on a troupe of young dancers to cheer them on! Lisa and Yvey bade farewell to the three men at St Jude’s but appeared again with their families at a number of points along the way to give great encouragement. It was quite a dull day to begin with, and the sun made only an occasional appearance along the way, but overall, conditions were good for cycling. That is with the exception of a strong headwind over the hills from Kells to Ballynure which made progress a little slower. By the time the riders had reached St Bride’s again they had covered an overall distance of 83 miles but they were all still in high spirits having accomplished a very worthwhile fundraising event. Congratulations to them all; Lisa, Yvey and Simon from Christ Church, Peter from All Saints’ and David from St Bride’s - well done.

Sincere thanks must go to everyone who has contributed to this charity and it is hoped that a very worthwhile sum of money will be passed over to the charity in the next few weeks. Look out for more news on this soon.

It will still be possible to donate on-line for another 2 weeks or so. Everything donated goes to the charity with no commission paid to a third party. If you can please add your address details to enable the gift-aid contribution - just follow this link;

NI Chest, Heart & Stroke

31st August, 2021 - St Bride’s Rambling Group (Whitehead Coastal Path)

The final evening walk of the season was held this evening on the short coastal path to Blackhead lighthouse from Whitehead. It was good to welcome a few familiar faces back after a long absence and they were made very welcome. The short walk was ideal to finish the season off as daylight on the last official day of summer was at a premium and by the time everyone had enjoyed some refreshments and some friendly banter it was almost dark and time for home. Next week a group of seventeen ramblers is heading to Rathlin Island for a day trip.

This walking season was unavoidably short but extremely enjoyable for everyone who took park. Hopefully next year’s first walk will return to the usual starting time of early May.

Until then…..

24th August, 2021 - St Bride’s Rambling Group (Tardree Forest)

It was back to Co. Antrim again for this evening’s walk around Tardree forest. A few navigational errors in finding the entrance to the forest delayed the start a little (signage for the forest car park and for the pathways in general was severely lacking), but on what was a lovely evening everyone got started together and made their way around the most scenic route of the forest, taking in views of Slemish and the Antrim hills. The now obligatory cup of tea and biscuits were enjoyed at the end sitting in the car park.

17th August, 2021 - St Bride’s Rambling Group (Redburn Country Park)

This evening’s walk wasn’t as well attended for a variety of reasons but the six who did walk enjoyed a challenging ascent up the steep path to the top of the park where wonderful views of the Belfast hills and across the lough to Co. Antrim could be seen. The weather wasn’t ideal for seeing a great distance but it was pleasantly warm for walking. Redburn Country Park has a wonderful history relating to the very successful Dunville family who lived in a very large home at the bottom of the hill. Sadly it has long since been demolished but the family’s rich history and connections with Belfast can be found by following this link - Dunville Family, Holywood

12th August, 2021 - Gardening Time

A band of seven volunteers assembled at the church today to bring an unruly hedge into line again. The fast growing rhododendron hedge that grows between the church and the parish hall really needed trimmed and the enthusiastic team soon had it cut back to more manageable dimensions. Some might think this ‘trim’ was a little drastic but laurel in particular recovers quickly from hard pruning and will be back to green foliage again in no time.

10th August, 2021 - St Bride’s Rambling Group (Scawt Hill)

This evening’s walk was in the Antrim hills and followed the Ulster Way from just above Carncastle, north to Scawt Hill overlooking the Antrim coast road. It was a dry evening but with a lot of mist obscuring the coastline of Scotland but the distinctive Ailsa Craig and the Mull of Kintyre were just visible in the distance to the east. The view to the west was much better, especially at the start of the walk, when Slemish dominated the landscape. The reduced hours of daylight were very noticeable as cloud drifted in later but everyone was back to the cars in time to enjoy a cup of coffee and a bit of conversation before heading home.

3rd August, 2021 - St Bride’s Rambling Group (Divis)

The rambling group visited Divis this evening for a 6 mile walk across the National Trust property. As always there are spectacular views across Belfast and south to the Mourne Mountains. Didn’t make the top this time as daylight was fading but it was good to be out on such a lovely evening and it was a glorious sunset. Refreshments were enjoyed at the end in the car park.

20th July, 2021 - St Bride’s Rambling Group (Giant’s Ring)

The fine weather took its toll on the number walking this evening as many were doing other things but a small group of six walkers enjoyed a walk from Shaw’s Bridge to the Minnowburn and then up the hill to the magnificent Giant’s Ring. A short break at the large group of stones in the middle of the ancient fortress and then down the hill to the Terrace Hill where beautiful views of Divis and Cavehill were enjoyed. Then it was back to the car park at Shaw’s Bridge, via the towpath, for coffee and a biscuit before heading for home.

19th July, 2021 - A Rocha UK Environmental Project

A local farmer called Frank Ellison, who lives near Parkgate, has made an area of his land available to create a nature reserve, complete with a small pond, and a plantation of native-species trees. A Rocha UK was founded twenty years ago as a local Christian conservation project in a deprived and multi-ethnic area of Southall, west London. That work goes on, based at the Wolf Fields reserve. A Rocha UK has grown and is now leading a fast growing network of Christian organisations committed to managing their land for nature. Bertie Stirling is no stranger to St Bride’s and he is a local representative of A Rocha UK in Northern Ireland. He organised a number of people to attend a fact-finding visit to the site that Frank Ellison has so generously made available. They included people from many local churches, primary schools and other interested individuals who all want to see God’s wonderful creation preserved. It is the intention that the formation of this nature area will involve many in the local community who will be able to help with the planting of trees and then be able to visit to see nature in action. The area will be known as ‘Hugh’s Meadow’ in memory of Frank Ellison’s father-in-law.

Below is a selection of photographs taken during the visit.

13th July, 2021 - St Bride’s Rambling Group (Antrim)

This evening’s walk started at the Castle Gardens in Antrim and it was very pleasing to welcome several new walkers to swell the numbers to twenty five. The ramblers left the gardens and crossed the bridge over the Six Mile Water, following the path down to the new visitors’ centre near the marina. Then it was along the lough shore to Rea’s Wood and taking care crossing the main Dublin Road out of Antrim to Kirby’s Lane. Leaving the public roads behind the route went down to the mill race walk and then back to the town centre and the gardens again. Refreshments were enjoyed by many of the ramblers at the picnic tables beside Clotworthy House. Another very pleasant evening for walking and again the flat route was about 5 miles in length.

6th July, 2021 - St Bride’s Rambling Group (Woodburn and the Knockagh Monument)

Now that Covid-19 restrictions are easing, and with most people having had both vaccinations, it was decided that the rambling group should get out and about again. Mindful of the current restrictions everyone came separately to the car park at Woodburn forest to begin a very enjoyable walk through the forest, between the reservoirs and on to the Knockagh monument. A round trip of approximately 5 miles with great views across Belfast lough to the north Down coast and as far south as the Mourne mountains. This was the first walk since August 2019 and it is the intention that more will follow each Tuesday evening until at least the end of August. Look at the Diary Dates page of this website for details of future walks.

4th July, 2021 - Battle of the Somme Commemoration Service

This afternoon the annual Somme Commemoration Service was held in Ballyclare War Memorial Park. Our Rector conducted the service on behalf of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council and a number of parishioners from St Bride’s attended. The Lord Mayor of the borough, Councillor Billy Webb, M.B.E., J.P., laid a wreath in memory of the many service personnel who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War and other conflicts.

23rd June, 2021 - The Kilbride Herald

The latest edition of the Kilbride Herald is now available to read by following this link - The Herald

22nd June, 2021 - 35th Anniversary of Our Rector’s Ordination

A special service was held this morning to allow parishioners to celebrate with our Rector, the 35th anniversary of his ordination. Rev. Canon David Humphries was ordained, with six others, in Dromore Cathedral on 22nd June 1986, before becoming curate in Ballyholme.

Rev. Canon David Humphries

The timeline of his service in the ministry reads as follows;

Ordained 22nd June 1986

Curate in Ballyholme 1986 - 1990

Minor Canon in Belfast Cathedral 1989 - 2012

Vicar Choral in Belfast Cathedral 1990 - 1993

Canon in Belfast Cathedral 2012

Incumbent in Stormont 1993 - 2016

Incumbent in Kilbride 2016 - present

22nd April, 2021 - Wedding Day

The bell in St Bride’s rang out today in celebration of the marriage of Laura Martin and John Paul Taggart. The couple enjoyed a warm and sunny Spring afternoon for their wedding in Kilbride, witnessed by a small number of guests. Best wishes from everyone in Kilbride as they begin their married life together.

21st April, 2021 - The Herald

The latest edition of the parish magazine is now available to read by following this link - The Herald



22nd February, 2021 - Appointment of New Organist

A new organist has finally been appointed for Kilbride. Timothy Wilson, who has been playing in a temporary capacity, has been invited to take up the position, and he has accepted. We are very pleased at this news, and we look forward to good times ahead, as we gradually (and hopefully) move back to worship in church. Please remember Timothy and the Choir in your prayers as they work to fill the “gap” created by a long interregnum, and also offer thanks to God for all those who helped us out over past months.

Music is such an important part of the liturgy, and like all aspects of worship, it is carried out Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam—”To the greater glory of God.”

21st February, 2021 - The Herald

The latest edition of the parish magazine is now available to read by following this link - The Herald 

31st January, 2021 - Parish Register of General Vestrypersons

PARISH OF KILBRIDE

Notice is given that there will be a meeting of the Select Vestry on Monday, 1 February at 7.30pm, for the purpose of opening for revision the Parish Register of General Vestrypersons.

A further meeting will take place on Sunday 28 February at 12.00 noon to complete the revision and close the Register.

Anyone wishing to register should contact the Churchwardens (phone numbers below) during the time the Register is open for revision.

Further details and forms of registration are available from the Churchwardens.

Please note that during the current Pandemic, meetings of the Select Vestry may be held by ZOOM in accordance with Government legislation.

W.D.Humphries

Incumbent

Rector’s Churchwarden: 9332 3761 (Clarence Gibson)

People’s Churchwarden:07595 497487 (Diane Hurst)