Vicar to host prayers before Bridgnorth Town Council meetings start
A vicar has stepped into the row about prayers being banned at Bridgnorth Town Council meetings – by organising his own prayers instead.
The Reverend Prebendary Simon Cawdell says prayers will now be held for councillors and members of the public in the annex next to College House at 6pm.
The vicar says that all who want to pray will be welcome to attend the meeting, which will be held just before town council meetings begin.
The council was split straight down the middle on the controversial issue when it was discussed at a meeting last week, with six voting for abolishing prayers and six voting against.
But the motion, put forward by former mayor Edward Marshall, was passed on the casting vote of current mayor Valerie Voysey, who said she was "willing to be unpopular".
Mr Cawdell, Team Rector of the Bridgnorth and Morville Parishes Team Ministry, said he had set up the prayer meetings as a response to the ban imposed by the council.
He said it would allow those who still wanted a Christian element to the meetings to continue to do so.
He said: "We as the chaplaincy will continue to hold councillors and the council in our prayers – particularly in the new meetings that have been set up."
The vote to ban prayers was taken at the council's Annual General Meeting held on May 17 in Mayor's Parlour at College House on St Leonard's Close. The move prompted a flurry of letters of protest, but also some of support from both councillors and members of the public.
Former Bridgnorth Town Councillor, Ed Shirley, was among those to criticise the move.
He said: "I am totally in favour of saying prayers before a council meeting.
"I was appalled to read of the decision of the members to scrap this practice and the reason given that it put off the public and discouraged new councillors coming forward."
