THERE was great cause for celebration this St Piran’s Day (March 5) as locals received their Cross of St Piran in recognition of the years of service they have given the churches and communities across Cornwall.

Among the thirteen recipients this year, Pam Parnell of Launceston, Gillian Beresford-Power from Callington and Helen Watson from Bodmin were presented with their Cross of St Piran at special services in St Piran’s Church, Perranzabuloe last Sunday.

The Bishop of Truro the Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen said: “The Cross of St Piran Awards are a significant way for us to say thank you to those people in our churches who have gone above and beyond in their service. I am humbled and grateful for these people and feel honoured that I am able to recognise their efforts in this small way. While some are involved in work that makes a huge difference, others are quietly working away in the background - but all are helping to keep the Church both fruitful and sustainable in their own communities.”

When the parish priest rang Gillian Beresford-Power from Callington to let her know he’d nominated her for a Cross of St Piran award, she’d replied, “Heavens, why have you done that?”   

Her nomination described her as a “quiet friendly saint”. 

She grew up in London and went to Sunday School and joined a church choir, but said: “I hardly ever heard about Jesus, except in hymns. I didn’t know what being a Christian meant.” 

She traces the origins of her faith back to 1947, to her mother’s near-death experience at the moment of Gillian’s birth. Her mother had a heart condition — her heart had in fact stopped on the delivery table. She’d died and then came back to life. In later years, she’d told Gillian of witnessing a light at the end of a dark tunnel, a bright beautiful garden where old friends and family were awaiting her arrival, and a voice telling her to return, telling her it wasn’t yet her time. But it wasn’t until the 1970s when, a new mother herself, Gillian came back to the church.

In 1987, Gillian moved to Cornwall – to the coastal village of Downderry, where she ran a grocery shop and tearoom. She returned to regular churchgoing when she moved to Callington in 1990. As her faith grew, she enrolled on an Alpha course.  

 She has been a member of St Mary’s Church in Callington for more than thirty years. She has been involved in fundraising for refurbishments to the building, and then in running the kitchen at the church. She ran a women’s fellowship group, a mobility and balance group for elderly people and when the parish recently decided to establish a warm space initiative she (as she modestly puts it) “sort of volunteered”. 

And so, after all these years, she has now come to know what her faith means to her. “Christianity means security, love, acceptance and the absence of fear. Being a Christian isn’t just about believing in Jesus and going to church. That can take a long time to sink in.”