Our family consists of Roy, Gill, Fiona and Richard and we have been attending Fulwood Methodist Church for nearly 3 years - although the latter 2 members of the family unfortunately only put in an appearance on occasions such as Christmas and Easter!

Gill is a Prestonian born and bred, having grown up in Penwortham just around the corner from Gillian Ferris (then Butterworth). After attending Penwortham Girls Grammar School she left after O’Levels to go into the Civil Service, where Liz Ellison was senior member of staff - how nice it was on joining Fulwood Methodists to meet up with these faces from the past!

Roy, meanwhile, hails from Westhoughton near Bolton which means he is known as a ‘Keaw Yed’ (Lancashire Dialect for ‘Cow Head’), due to the legend of the local farmer whose cow got it’s head stuck in a five-bar gate. As the gate was worth more than the cow, he solved his dilemma by sawing off the cow’s head! We met through a common hobby of Campanology (Church bellringing to most of us). Roy had been a ringer at Westhoughton Parish Church since the age of 14 and Gill had joined the band at St. Mary’s, Penwortham when in the Girl Guides. You might say that love blossomed in the belfry and we were married on 9 September 1978 at St. Mary’s (and rang the bells after our wedding service!). We settled in Fulwood and our children, Fiona and Richard, were born in 1981 and 1985 respectively. Fiona works at the University of Central Lancashire and Richard is a second year student at Cardinal Newman College.

Gill currently works at the Harris Library whilst Roy is a Computer Application Developer for Aegon Insurance at Lytham (formerly G.R.E.). We both enjoy walking, being particularly fond of the Lake District, and Gill practices yoga whilst Roy continues bellringing.

Although we have been attending Fulwood Methodist Church for 3 years and transferred our membership from St. John’s last year, people still sometimes ask if we are ‘new’ to the Church. We still feel fairly new but are enjoying getting involved in more things, appreciate the warm welcome we have been given, and are getting ‘older’ by the minute!