On Friday 5 November 2010 Mike, Fiona and Toby Paget, along with our regional bishop and a previous Barneys Rector, Robert Forsyth, flew to Melbourne to meet up with former Barneys members who now live down south.

Deb and John Sugars, both on the St Jude’s Carlton staff and Belinda Hall, who moved to Melbourne about two years ago, hosted the event in the St Jude’s Carlton hall. There were about 25 people present.  It was a great night of renewing friendships, sharing memories of past times at Barneys, bringing people up to date on what’s happening now and challenging them to consider contributing to Barneys’ future.

It was wonderful to be able to introduce our new Rector, Mike Paget, to these people and to hear him talk of the plans for ministry and its challenges in the years ahead. People who had been members in the late 1960s right through to 2000s watched videos of the fire, the new building fly though and current student members reflecting on Barneys now.

With Rob Forsyth’s slide show we learnt of Barneys beginnings, changes in its ministry over 150 years and we worked out where we all fitted into this history. Some had been married in the old Barneys building, some had been Barneys Club leaders and many remembered with thankfulness the teaching and fellowship of those years that had helped them grow as Christians.

Not surprisingly many recalled the other inhabitants of the old building, the rats, the difficulty of changing light bulbs, the rabbit warren of rooms in the school house and the“characters” who came to the weekly Sunday evening meal in the old hall. In true Barneys style we were flicking the light switches as the night got longer and we could have gone on and on!

If you live interstate or in a regional centre, we’d love to do something similar close to you, so please get in touch if you are interested by emailing rosie.pidgeon@barneys.org.au.