It was a great occasion on Saturday to be at St Paul's for Charles' ordination as a Deacon serving here at All Souls as our Curate.

 ...Charles (for those of you who haven't met him yet) is standing just next to the Bishop's crook. The man off to the right (in case you were wondering) is the former vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB - home of Alpha and previously Charles' church too) Sandy Millar, who's now a Bishop assisting in the London Diocese. Some of you might also recognise Bev Watson (standing to Charles' left), since she's married to Andrew Watson, vicar of St Stephen's in Twickenham. Bev is to be half-time curate at St Mary's, Osterley Park.

We had a great celebration on Sunday to welcome Charles, Charlie and the family - there's a bunch of photos online by way of a slideshow of the service and barbecue afterwards.

Mention of the Bishop's crook takes me back to the ordination service itself - after the procession had entered St Paul's (with Bishop Richard in the lead), my young daughter reappeared from where she'd been hiding (a scary bunch these bishops!) and said:

What was that shepherd doing, Mummy?

I suspect  Bishop Richard wouldn't have minded that...