PEOPLE from across a part of Worcester have gathered to confirm their Christian faith in a special ceremony.

St John-in-Bedwardine Church celebrated the confirmation of 11 people aged between 13 and 58 year old earlier this month, which was something of a surprise for church leaders as they do not normally get so many people deciding to take the step at any one time, let alone from the same church.

As part of the ceremony, they were blessed by the Bishop of Worcester, the Right Reverend Dr John Inge.

Reverend Chris Stuart said once a person is confirmed they take their full place in the Church family.

“Most people are baptised or christened as babies when they’re too young to understand the vows that are made on their behalf by their parents and godparents,” he said.

“At confirmation they literally confirm that those vows were right for them and that they want to live the life of a Christian.

“It’s unusual for us to have so many people being confirmed in one year, and all from the same church. There’s a real mix of ages and backgrounds too.

“We’ve been going through a tough couple of years struggling to raise funds for the tower works and the boiler repairs so it’s a real blessing to see our church family grow in spite of our troubles.”

Your Worcester News has previously reported on the problems church leaders have had to get the church bells ringing out over the ‘village in the city’ once more – a £200,000 project which has been running since February.