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Blessing for the new Carlisle Lake District Airport

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AIRPORT BLESSING 2 - SARAH MOORE, MEL SCOULDING, STEVE SCOULDING, LEE TOWNEND, AFTAB KHAN, DAVID NEWLOVE

Blessing for the new Carlisle Lake District Airport

THE new Carlisle Lake District Airport has been blessed by the Archdeacon of Carlisle ahead of its first commercial flight in more 25 years.

 The Ven Lee Townend was joined by ecumenical colleagues for the interfaith service early this morning on the airport’s runway, just a few hours before the first flight departed.

 Bestowing the blessing, he prayed: “May this airport and all its buildings and people, and this runway, be blessed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.”

 Archdeacon Lee was joined on the tarmac by the Rev David Newlove, Superintendent Minister of the Methodist Church, Captains Mel and Steve Scoulding from the Salvation Army’s Carlisle Citadel, the Rev Sarah Moore, Area President of the United Reformed Church and Aftab Khan from AWAZ Cumbria.

 The service at the Stobart Group’s airport included Prayers of Invocation, a reading from Psalm 100 and a Thanksgiving prior to the blessing by Aftab Khan, Development Manager, AWAZ Cumbria: "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We thank you Allah the Almighty God for the many opportunities this new beginning for the airport brings. We pray that it will prosper and be a place of safety, sustainable employment, a joy for those who will holiday from here and a comfort for those who will travel for education and business from here. We thank you for you’re the way in which this airport will serve many communities and provide transport links to many places. We thank you that this airport will bring people, communities and nations closer together. Ameen!"

 Archdeacon Lee said: “It was a wonderful honour to gather as an interfaith group for a short service on the runway and for me to be able to bless the airport and all the people who will work there and travel to and from it.

 “To be gathered in the middle of the runway – in what is the heart of the airport – to perform the blessing was certainly a once in a lifetime experience for me in terms of ministry and is something I shall never forget.

 “Our collective prayers are that the airport goes from strength to strength and is well supported in the coming years, providing a great base for employment in the area and new travel opportunities which will bring even more people to this beautiful part of the world.”

 Around 50 people will be employed at the airport which will run scheduled flights to and from Belfast, Dublin and London Southend airports with Loganair.

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