The St Andrew’s February Turkish and Syrian Earthquake Appeal reached just over TL 65,000, a terrific response. KKTC Kizilay received a small group lead by Jacqueline McIntyre, Warden and Shane Barnes, Treasurer accompanied by Jenny and John Worton-Griffiths on Friday 17th March. Kizilay President, Sezoi Sezen and his colleagues received the St Andrew’s donation with grateful thanks – it will be included in the KKTC Kizilay Pray for Turkey campaign. The Earthquake area of Sanliurfa is now suffering from severe flooding after days of torrential rain. Some tent encampments are now under water.

Home – North Cyprus Red Crescent Society (kktkizilayi.org)

Kibris is now hosting 10,000 people displaced by the Turkish earthquake. Baskan Sezoi explained that most are staying with friends and family but many are in need of assistance. Kizilay are busy preparing for Ramazan which begins on 23^rd March. Iftar meals will to be shared in many towns and villages across the island each evening for the 29 days of fasting.

We thank God that we are able to announce that the Rev Fr Alec Mitchell has accepted the position of Priest-in-Charge of St. Andrew’s, Kyrenia.

Fr Alec will be instituted to the Incumbency of the Parish by Archbishop Michael on 4th June 2023. He will be accompanied by his wife Linda as we begin this new, exciting time for them and for St. Andrew’s.

Deo gratias!

Below is a short biography sent to us by Fr Alec. We look forward very much to welcoming Linda and Fr Alec to Kyrenia.

I was born in Maldon, Essex, in November 1952, the youngest of three (an elder sister and brother) and was a ‘cradle Baptist’. I was baptized, by full immersion, aged 16. After a ‘gap year’ I went to Manchester University to read theology, while concurrently training at the Northern Baptist College to be a Baptist Minister. I also studied for a semester at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches in Switzerland.

I was ordained as a Baptist Minister in 1977 and served for 22 years in Moss Side, Manchester, in a church that had no baptistry. We used the local swimming pool for our (full immersion) baptisms: a spectacular setting! The church congregation was a rich mix of many nationalities and occupations: there were Jamaicans and British, hospital cleaners, BBC personnel, jam factory workers and university lecturers. . .

I began ministry in the Church of England in 1999 after a brief period of re-training at the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. I was ordained deacon and then priested within the space of a few months. (My journey was not quite as speedy as that of St Ambrose of Milan, who is said to have been baptised, then made a priest, and finally consecrated as bishop, all within the space of a week!). I served my title in Ashton- under-Lyne, and held incumbencies in the Diocese of Manchester in both Ashton and nearby Denton, combining the role of parish priest with that of Racial Justice Officer for the Diocese, from 2002 until retirement in 2018. I was appointed to the latter post by my then Area Bishop (of Middleton) – one Michael Lewis, now Archbishop here in Cyprus! I was also the first Borough Dean for Tameside (one of Greater Manchester’s ten metropolitan authorities) and a Chaplain to both the local sixth form college and the Tameside Sea Cadets – whose ‘seas’ were the nearby canals and reservoirs in the Peak District.

I met Linda, my wife of 39 years, due to a ‘guess the weight of the cake’ competition! She had baked the cake, and my guess was the best – although she maintains that I cheated, because I had lifted it up! Linda is also from Essex, although we met in Manchester. Her career was as a secondary school teacher and she retired as an assistant Head at a large comprehensive school in Cheadle, Stockport. We married on 4.8.84 – a date which I can remember because it is a palindrome. We have three grown-up children, Nadia, Leila, and Aidan (the first and third are palindromes of each other!) and our daughters are currently living in Manchester and Germany, and our son is travelling in South America on a gap year from the Civil Service. We certainly hope they will all come to visit us in Kyrenia.

I love reading, cooking, music of all kinds, (except jazz and pop), Scrabble, sailing, rugby union, and railways. I am a rather poor pianist, and, having been a very average ‘all-rounder’ at cricket, I now pride myself on having been a very ‘acceptable’ umpire for clergy cricket matches. (9 out of 10 appeals for LBW are ‘not out’!)

Linda and I are thrilled to be coming to St Andrew’s, and look forward to meeting you all, and getting to know our way around. We give thanks to God, who has led us here, out of what we thought was retirement….!

On Sunday 11th February 2023, St. Andrew’s was honoured to welcome the Right Reverend Anthony Ball, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Egypt with responsibilities across the new Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria, who Presided at the Eucharist on that day. The Very Reverend Christopher Futcher, Archdeacon of Cyprus, preached at the service.

Bishop Ball also serves as a Canon of Westminster Abbey, but perhaps of most significant importance currently from St. Andrew’s perspective, Bishop Ball is Chairman of The Jerusalem and the Middle East Church Association (JMECA) whose Standing Committee, the Jerusalem and East Mission Trust (JEMT), is the body which administers the assets of JMECA and a number of other charities that provide support for the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East (including the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf incorporating St. Andrew’s Church).

But Sunday 11th February was also a very special day in the life of the Church beyond assets such as buildings etc. when a young man Victor Idoga was received by baptism as the latest member of the Body of Christ which is the Church in St. Andrew’s.

Below are photographs (courtesy of Leo Igwe) of that joyous occasion.

As we have been seeing on our new reports recently devastating earthquakes have killed thousands of people in Türkiye and Syria. Hundreds of buildings have been destroyed. Survivors are facing freezing conditions and are in need of urgent aid.

Closer to home we have been deeply affected by the news that a dozen children from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus – accompanied by their parents on a school trip for a volleyball tournament in Türkiye – were caught amid the devastating Kahramanmaraş earthquake.

From an article on the LGC news website dated Friday 10th February 2023 we read:

The bodies of four more Turkish Cypriot students were discovered in the rubble of the Isias Hotel in Adiyaman, Yeniduzen reports.

The total number of casualties from the TRNC caused by two earthquakes in Turkey five days ago has risen to 16.

In separate articles, Yeniduzen names some of the latest casualties as: Osman Çetintaş, one of the teachers at Famagusta TMK. Students at Famagusta TMK, Hasan Bilgen, Kagan Selim İş, Alp Akın Mert Niyazi Topukçuoğlu and two brothers Doruk Akın and Alp Akın.

Funerals for the deceased will be held today.

How can we help?

At St Andrew’s there will be a retiring collection after each Sunday’s Eucharistic service this month (February 2023) to help Küzey Kıbrıs Türk Kızılayı (the Turkish Red Crescent) support the needs of people in the earthquake area of Türkiye and Syria. Kizilay TRNC works through Kizilay Türkiye and Turkish Banks in Kibris facilitate money transfer between them.

You may remember that in Lent 2022, following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, St. Andrew’s made retiring collections after each service, the proceeds of which were passed on to Kizilay TRNC to help support those in need there.

It is hoped that our congregation will once again be as generous as they have been on previous occasions.

What if I am off the island but still want to support?

Many organisations throughout the world have put out powerful appeals for assistance. Maybe you have already given via one of these charity. Donations made to the Disasters Emergency Committee in the U.K. will be gift aided and matched by the U.K. government up to the total of £5million.

However, you may want your support to be added to the St Andrew’s collections.

You can do so by making payments to St Andrew’s UK Charity bank account by bank transfer, using the reference QUAKE. Details are given below.
Bank Details: Unity Trust Bank, 4 Brindley Place, Birmingham B1 2HB
Account No: 20372187
Sort Code: 60-83-01
Account Name: St Andrew’s Church Kyrenia UK Charity
BIC: CPBKGB22
IBAN: GB15UYTB60830120372187

Giving to a disaster is part of our Church’s mission and we can also claim Gift Aid on any known declared donor.

• £10 could provide blankets to keep two people warm
• £25 could provide emergency food for a family for ten days
• £50 could provide emergency shelter for two families

Wherever you are, please donate if you possibly can, to these enormous needs.