ALDHELM CROSSES AWARDED IN SALISBURY CATHEDRAL TO FOUR 'UNSUNG SAINTS'

Four long-serving and loyal members of the diocese of Salisbury were awarded the Aldhelm Cross by the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Dr David Stancliffe, during a special service of Evensong in Salisbury Cathedral on Friday 9 October.

Robert Allan, Chris Dragonetti, Sara Jacson and David Smart received the Crosses “in recognition of the distinctive but quiet and unsung way they have made a significant contribution to the mission and work of the Diocese which was founded by St Aldhelm in 705.”

Bishop David created the Aldhelm Cross award, a silver engraved lapel cross, in 2005. It is normally presented to three or four laypeople on a date near All Saints' Day when the Church remembers the millions of unsung saints throughout the ages.

The Bishop said today, “St Aldhelm established the Christian faith in Dorset and Wiltshire not by preaching at people, but by living among them, and using his talents to enrich and change their lives. These four recipients of the Aldhelm Cross are worthy successors in the way they too have used their gifts and gone the extra miles over many years to serve others in God’s name and draw the best out of them.”

Robert Allan has been treasurer of the Dorset Historic Churches Trust for the past nineteen years. “When I retired from 30 years' teaching at Bryanston School, I was lucky to be asked by Bishop John Baker to launch a Sponsored Cycle Ride to raise funds for the Dorset Historic Churches Trust, and shortly afterwards to become the Trust's Treasurer. This work has been its own reward, so it is very gratifying for me and for the Trust to be awarded the St.Aldhelm Cross as I retire from the treasurership after nineteen years.”

Chris Dragonetti has just retired having served for the past twenty-two years as Diocesan Accountant. “I am honoured and delighted to have been awarded the St Aldhelm Cross. I feel blessed to have held a role which has been both challenging and fulfilling but am now looking forward, with my wife Tricia, to a gap year type adventure before returning to Salisbury and, I hope, leading a more diverse existence than my diocesan job has allowed.”

Sara Jacson was an Area Co-ordinator for Dorset for the Bishop’s Certificate Course having taught it for fifteen years and hosting meetings for tutors. She has led the monthly service at St Thomas’ Church, Melbury Abbas, for the past eleven years, and has run Grove Farm house, Melbury Abbas as a conference/retreat centre for the past 21 years for people in the diocese and others - including Sherborne Area Resource Group and Dorcas (Dorset Church and Society) of which she is also secretary. She worked with a small group to set up Nightstop Dorset which is now working across the county providing emergency accommodation in host families for young people. In the past she has chaired the steering group to create the North Dorset Women’s Refuge and currently chairs the Friends of the Refuge and the North Dorset Domestic Violence Forum. Sara was instrumental in setting up Toby’s, a young people’s advice and information centre in Shaftesbury, which she still chairs and which is supported by Churches Together in Shaftesbury among others. She is also a Director of the Community Health Association Shaftesbury which provides a residential home and Nursing home for some 48 elderly people in the town. “The unexpectedness of this not looked for personal award is a great surprise and a great pleasure.”

David Smart has been Treasurer of the Sherborne Deanery for more than 25 years. He has also been on Diocesan Synod for many years and more recently was a member of the Sherborne Area Stewardship Group and a member of the Diocesan Finance Committee. “It was a great surprise to receive the Award from Bishop David. I know a couple of people who have been awarded the Cross of St Aldhelm in the past, but never considered that it would ever happen to me.”