BISHOP Kenneth is to make his first official visit to Ghana as part of his diocese’s links with West Africa.

The bishop will spend eight days in the country, and will see for himself why parishioners around the Anglican diocese of Portsmouth have found links with Ghana inspirational.

He will fly there on November 25 with a small team of clergy from around our diocese, including the Archdeacon of the Isle of Wight, the Ven Trevor Reader. Although his itinerary is still in the planning stage, he will probably meet the Archbishop of West Africa, the Most Rev Justice Akrofi, who is also Bishop of Accra.

The bishop will visit church and community projects that have been supported by parishes in this diocese. He will also visit St Nicholas’s Anglican Seminary in Cape Coast and meet staff and students training for ordination. He will see the college’s new library, which was created with the help of £8,000 raised by the bishop’s own Lent Appeal in 2003.

The college has also been at the centre of an exchange scheme – former curates the Revs Barry Dugmore and Chris Maclay from this diocese spent several months there in 2003 and 2004 respectively, while Ghanaian student Raymond Otchewemah visited Portsmouth’s Anglican diocese earlier this year.

The other clergy making the trip this November are: Canon Terry Louden, vicar of East Meon and Langrish, who has now taken over as chairman of our diocese’s IDWAL group; the Rev Robin Coutts, priest-in-charge of Blendworth, Chalton and Idsworth and diocesan director of non-stipendiary ministry; the Rev David Gibbons, vicar of St Faith’s, Havant; the Rev Karina Green, priest-in-charge of St George’s, Portsea, who also runs our diocese’s post-ordination training; and the Rev Janice O’Shaughnessy, curate at Clanfield and Catherington.

“I’m looking forward to it immensely,” said Bishop Kenneth. “I know others have benefited hugely from visiting Ghana or hosting Ghanaian visitors in their parishes. I hope I can learn from the faith and experience of Christians there, and develop further the many links that already exist between the Anglican church in Ghana and the Portsmouth diocese.”

The Anglican dioceses of Portsmouth, Guildford and Chichester are linked with churches in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia as part of the Inter-Diocesan West Africa Link (IDWAL) scheme. The Portsmouth diocese is specifically linked with Ghana.

Hundreds of worshippers from around the diocese have travelled there to create or extend parish-to-parish, school-to-school and deanery-to-deanery links over the past few years. One of the highest profile links is between the parishes of Hayling Island and St Andrew’s, Asesewa. Donations from the Hayling churches helped to build a bridge linking the village of Ayiesu in the parish with the mainland – and Hayling worshipper Carol Bailey was declared a ‘queen mother’ of the village.

A group from Holy Rood Church, Stubbington, recently attended the centenary of their link church, St Mark’s in Essikadu. The anniversary included a week of events including a quiz and competition between the schools.

All Saints’ Church in Denmead hosted three Ghanaian visitors from their link parish – St Paul’s in New Tato Akim - as part of their own 125th anniversary celebrations. The priest, Fr Jacob Botchway, link co-ordinator Dorothy Mills-Robertson and church elder Fred Tackie visited six other churches as well during their three-week stay.

The Very Rev Emmanuel Williams, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Cape Coast, visited St Mary’s, Liss. He preached at St Mary’s and spoke at a meeting attended by worshippers across our diocese. It raised £170 towards his cathedral’s appeal to build accommodation for students at Cape Coast University.

And Fr Michael Asiedu and his wife Beatrice from Asesewa visited St Andrew’s and St Peter’s Churches in Hayling Island recently.

Anyone interested in hearing more about the work of IDWAL is invited to a bring and share event at Cathedral House from 2pm-5pm on November 20. There will be short presentations and a chance to talk to those who have visited Ghana to find out about ongoing projects.