Creech St Michael Baptist Church's Assistant Minister, Gary Birch, has recently begun regular visits to Exeter Airport as one of the new Chaplaincy team there. Gary has had an interest in aircraft and aviation for some time and is pleased to be able to bring together his faith and one of his interests. Below is a copy of the Exeter Airport Press Release:

The spiritual needs of both passengers and staff at Exeter International Airport are to be catered for in the future by three chaplains who will make regular visits to both landside and airside areas of the airport. 

The airport’s new initiative will bring The Reverend John Eyles, The Reverend Gary Birch and Pastor Ian Huxham into the airport workplace on a regular basis and they will provide solace and counselling to staff on work issues or those from the home environment.  They will also be on hand for many departures, a time that may be stressful for some passengers awaiting their flight.

Human Resources Manager, Jacqui Cousins, who has set up the new Chaplaincy service said; “We hope that our staff will take up the opportunity to talk in confidence with the Chaplains who are specially trained to handle a variety of topics.  John, Gary and Ian have had to come to terms with the fact that working at an airport has stringent health and safety policies and they have all untaken training for working in an environment where aircraft are close by (see picture). “

The Chaplains will represent the Christian Churches of the area but do not set out to be advocates of any one denomination.  They respect other faiths and will make links with leaders of Churches.  They also have links to other airport chaplaincies throughout the UK and around the world.

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BBC Radio Devon interviewed Gary about the new chaplaincy service at the airport, broadcasting the interview on Pippa Quelch's Sunday Morning show, 24th August. Right-Click here and 'save target as' to download and listen to it.

See the BBC Devon web page on this too. Click here.