The Friends are very proud of their close relationship with the City Guides. The City Guide Lecturers Association recently celebrated their 20th anniversary with a reception in the crypt of Guildhall. Several senior members of the Corporation attended, and also members of the Executive Committee of the Friends of the City Churches. It was an excellent evening, with many new friendships being formed as well as old ones being re-kindled.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support the City Guides have given us, under the leadership of their very active committee. This support comes in a variety of ways including very generous contributions made by City Guides. City Guides have also been very generous of their time in supporting us with our various fund raising walks, including of course our annual City Churches Walk which took place in June. We also know from experience that City Guides take every opportunity to extol the splendours of the City Churches.

Our two organisations have many members in common, united by the love we all have for our City, and its many churches. We would like to congratulate the Guides on reaching their 20th Anniversary, and offer every good wish for the future.

Back to our core activities, we are delighted that we are now “watching” in St Ethelburga’s Church. This church has the double distinction of surviving the Great Fire of 1666 and the bombing of World War II – only to suffer huge damage on April 24th 1993 as a result of the IRA Bishopsgate bomb. Just under ten years later, it was re-consecrated, and then officially opened by HRH The Prince of Wales as the St Ethelburga Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. Like many City institutions, we were pleased to send a donation towards the reconstruction, and now return to our honoured role of “church-watching”.

One survivor of the bomb is a stone slab positioned near the entrance, bearing the inscription, “Bona intra, melior exi” (Come in good, go out better).

Friends of the City Churches, St Magnus the Martyr, Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6DN tel 020 7626 1555

e-mail      www.london-city-churches.org.uk