Digest>Archives> Jan/Feb 2014

Worship Center Lightship Falls on Hard Times

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The former Trinity House LV 14 Helwick Lightship that now serves as a floating Christian worship and study center in Cardiff Bay in Wales has been forced to close for the winter months because of financial difficulties.

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The 50-year old lightship has been berthed in Cardiff Bay since the early 1990s where it has welcomed up to 70,000 visitors and worshipers per year. It is hoped that the ship, which has a chapel and even a café, will be able to do some financial restructuring and reopen again in the spring.

The LV 14 went into service in 1953 on the Kentish Knock Lightship Station. After serving in a number of other stations around the coastal waters of the United Kingdom, she was eventually decommissioned in 1989.

Now known as the Goleulong 2000 Lightship, it has served as a floating Christian center that hosts conferences and school events. Quayside services have been held in the summer, there are monthly communion services, and the chapel has previously been open for private prayer and meditation.

According to the book, Still a Guiding Light, the concept of the lightship was developed in 1988 by Cardiff Churches Forum. The lightship arrived in Cardiff in 1993, and after extensive renovations she was opened to the public in 1994. (Photos courtesy of Rev. Peter Noble.)

This story appeared in the Jan/Feb 2014 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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