Deacon Mike honoured for 33 years of service

Bishop Peter Collins presented the East Anglia Diocesan Medal to Deacon Mike Vipond for over 30 years of service during the celebration of Mass at Saint Clare’s Church in  Framlingham on May 22.

Deacon Mike Vipond was among the first group of people to be ordained to the Permanent Diaconate for the Diocese of East Anglia by Bishop Alan Clark in May 1991. The award of the Diocesan Medal recognises Deacon Mike’s thirty-three years’ service to the Church.

Before moving to Suffolk, Deacon Mike had been the Headteacher of Saint Joseph’s Primary School in Walthamstow in the Diocese of Brentwood.  At Framlingham, he has been a school governor and trustee of a local charity.  For over 20 years he was the Catholic Sessional Chaplain at HMP Hollesley Bay and HMP Warren Hill.  He and his wife Ann are actively involved in the Framlingham Churches Together group and for many years he has been a member of the Knights of Saint Columba.

During his homily, before the presentation of the Diocesan Medal and Certificate, Bishop Peter thanked Deacon Mike for his service to the Church and to the community at Framlingham, and he also thanked Mrs Ann Vipond for supporting her husband in his ministry.

Deacon Mike writes: “Thank you so much for the wonderful celebration on the occasion of my reception of the East Anglia Diocesan Medal; to Father Edmund for the beautiful liturgy of the Holy Mass over which Bishop Peter presided so sensitively.  Thank you for all those who could attend and whose participation meant so much to Ann and me and for all the good wishes which reflected just how much the medal was also for the whole parish, for their faithfulness and support throughout the years.”

Pictured above are Deacon Mike and Ann Vipond, Bishop Peter Collins and Fr Edmund Eggleston. Picture by Jonathan Diss.

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