On a recent visit to West Somerset, Bishop Michael and Archdeacon of Taunton, Simon Hill were delighted to spend time at both Hinkley Point C construction site and 40 Commando RM.
Their first stop was Hinkley Point C – one of the largest construction sites in Europe. There, they took part in the licensing of Rev Andrew Hillier as Lead Chaplain and welcomed Heather Culshaw as Night Chaplain. Andrew and Heather have joined a growing team of chaplains, all funded by Hinkley, which has been built up over the last few years and offers support to the diverse community of over 12,000 people who work at the construction site. You can read more about Andrew and Heather and the work of the team in our previous news article.
Later in the day, Bishop Michael and Simon visited 40 Commando RM, where Chaplain Rev Stuart Rason RN, Padre 40 Commando RM, gave a detailed tour of the base and explained their work. As a ‘Very High Readiness Force’ within UK defence they are available to be deployed across the world at short notice, into a variety of complex, austere and demanding situations.
After the visits, Simon commented, “We were enormously encouraged through spending time with chaplains in two very different contexts locally and seeing their dedicated and important work. The Chaplaincy Team at Hinkley provides support in a variety of ways to people who come from all over the world to make Somerset their home for a while. 40 commando is an important military base in the county and we were made aware of how the good news is lived out there. In both places the ministry of those serving as chaplains and the relationships they are building was clearly highly appreciated by the institutions and by the workforce.”