The Ebbsfleet parishes in Birmingham range across this large and diverse conurbation. In the north of the diocese, nearer to Sutton Coldfield than to Birmingham itself, is my own parish of Saint Mark, Kingstanding and Fr Barry Smart’s parish of St Luke, Kingstanding. The area which our two parishes serve is basically one huge council [...]

The Wolverhampton Episcopal area of the Lichfield Diocese covers most of the Black Country. A place with a rich and proud industrial past that has shaped the present. There are a number of Society parishes here, most of which were born out of the places where the poor Victorian working classes lived, worked and [...]

‘When you die, that’s it. Nothing. Out like a light!’ That’s what the man in the pub said, and his mates all nodded, though the one whose mother had died the week before wasn’t really quite so certain. Still, it seemed to make sense. After all, we know what ‘dead’ means: dead leaves, dead batteries, [...]