On the 11th July we said our sad farewells to Giovanni Cucchi from the monastic community at Valle Chiara who had stayed too briefly with us and shared our church life here at St. Wilfrid's in our Centenary Year.

Giovanni comes from Northern Italy near Piacenza. He is 29 and celebrated his birthday whilst he was here. He has a beautiful singing voice and  organized the choir at the monastery at Valle Chiara which has a diverse choral tradition.

He is very knowledgeable about plants and shrubs which Rachel Ison discovered early on in his stay here on a dog walk with Remi when he identified the plants in the municipal garden in Bognor. This is very consistent with the organic emphasis of the monastic community at Valle Chiara.

He is a very practical person and did some valuable hedge cutting in preparation for the Pims evening in the Vicarage Garden. He assisted Ben Reeder in his work on his farm. All of this while learning English and several trips to London and one to Stamford. One of the highlights of his time here was the yearly thanksgiving and remembrance service at St Paul’s Cathedral for St John’s Ambulance which he enjoyed very much, as he said frequently ‘I LIKE’.

I have hugely appreciated Giovanni’s assistance at the altar serving at the Eucharist. He has great expertise in this area. Giovanni has also visited our Church Aided Schools and nursing homes to assist with the communions. Giovanni has been a great encouragement to us all.

Fr. Andrew