The last time the Wimbledon Parish Confirmation took place at St Mark's was four years ago, in 1998. Then, such names as Marlene Davie, Cheryl Kjellstadt and Louise Tyrrell were among the candidates and look what happened to them! There were also a couple of young teenagers, Laura Pring and Manolita Bernal Helices, who are now quite grown up young women.

In 2002 we hosted the Confirmation again and had three adult candidates

Naomi Hayward who is married to Darren, who took part in the London to Brighton bike ride. Naomi works as a paediatric nurse/specialist at St George's Hospital and has two children, Sophie and Ella. Sophie was baptised at St Mark's early in May.

Paul Legg is married to Beverley who sings in St Mark's choir. Paul works for the BBC World Service and has been around St Mark's for about 18 months.

Oliver Sweeney is a GP in Roehampton. Oliver is now married to Vicky as of June 29th and will only just have returned from his honeymoon when he is confirmed!! They also did the London to Brighton bike ride...

Making a commitment to anything is an important stage in our lives; making a commitment to God and the church has a very special ring about it. The Confirmation Service was conducted by The Rt. Rev'd Tom Butler, the Bishop of Southwark. We were joined by candidates from St Mary's, St Matthews and St John's, as well as two candidates from other parts of the diocese.

Paul Legg has written a short piece for the site on his impressions of the evening, as a 'confirmee':

Sunday, July 21st was a wonderful day for me as I'm sure it was for my fellow "Confirmees" from St Marks - Oliver Sweeney and Naomi Hayward. The service we took part in was immaculately and beautifully prepared, from the Service Book to Mark's inspired arrangements and the reception afterwards. I'm sure we were all equally touched by the splended, expanded choir and the sizeable turnout of the St Mark's congregation, as well as the privilege of "being confirmed" by the Bishop of Southwark.

On a personal note, I was very moved to have a band of "followers" (family and close friends) in the congregation and to be "sponsored" by Beverley. Eighteen months ago I would have laughed to "Kingdom Come" at the suggestion that I would be confirmed in the Anglican Church within the next year and a half. When we started coming to St Marks it was in reluctant accordance with Bev's wish; it was to sit as far back in the church as possible, say as little as possible and keep my previous scepticism intact. Little by little, through the warmth of the congregation, the brilliance of Chris' sermons and his wonderful intuition and a sort of creeping calm within me, I've found myself edging further and further forward in the pews. This process led me to tentatively suggest to Chris some months ago that I might just, conceivably, be interested in finding out more...The result, as you know -- after several nights of questions and demands for clarification from me at Chris' confirmations classes -- was the very special service on Sunday evening.

What does it mean to be "confirmed" ?? Well, I woke up today (Monday) slightly chuffed at the idea -- for the first time really -- that I might legitimately call myself a "Christian". I suppose it's a sort of "coming out" contentment but it's also the idea that, perhaps, I'm finally ready to acknowledge that I really do belong among a group of people who are trying to live their lives in a better way governed by their understanding of Christ's teachings. So for me, confirmation is a big deal because it means that I have acknowledged that publicly and must now hold myself to it. I think all three of us also felt very strongly that by becoming confirmed we were making a statement about our appreciation of and commitment to St. Marks. You dont need me to tell you what a special community it is. "Discovering" St. Marks, at a time when life was going through a difficult patch, has proved an enormous source of strength for Beverley and I . We will soon be going to Berlin for a year, but feel we are taking a bit of St. Mark's with us -- not least because Cynthia has put us in touch with the Anglican Church of St George's in the German capital and Irene Ahrens, the marvellously friendly assistant priest there. I might even join the choir in Berlin!

Paul Legg

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