The weather forecast was so awful that for safety considerations we could not continue with the plans for the large platform and loads of PA equipment in Parliament Street. Storms of high winds with snow and sleet were foretold. So we moved the event to the forecourt of St Michael-le-Belfrey church.
On the morning the expected storms with high winds did not take place, we had snow instead. As I was booked to go to BBC Radio York to go on Julia Booth’s programme to review the Sunday Papers, I went by the nearby baptismal site and got a shot of it covered in Easter Day snow.
The bad weather did come. Just before the baptisms it was cold windy sleet. The storms stopped for the baptisms and then returned when we were finished.
The event went well though. We had some of the preliminaries indoors with the York Gospel Choir and the candidates making their vows and declaring their faith. Then we all trooped out for the baptisms.
I was such a joyful event. The sun shone, the Minster bells sounded out and cheers rippled through the crowds as those baptised emerged from the pool.
Because of the hurriedly changed arrangements we had no platform or crowd control. The tank was crowded round with spectators and press cameras.
I saw a photo of the event on Christian Selvaratnam’s blog. He had to hold the camera in the air as there were so many people, and were so crowded together. Nice shot though.
Below are just a selection from those Natasha took for us.
Some more web coverage:
- The BBC news for North Yorkshire
- The York Press
- The Yorkshire Post
- One Voice York
I am sure you will find more if you search.
Click on any of the thumbnails to open them.
