Solon Kyriacou farewell 2023

God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again'

These were the words of the song sung by Dee and Solon Kyriacou as they said 'Goodbye' to the churches of Grantham, Lincoln, Newark and Skegness on 1st July 2023.

Ten years earlier, on February 13th 2013, the Grantham Journal reported:

“A new ministerial team has been appointed to the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Dudley Road, Grantham.
Pastor Solon Kyriacou and his wife Dee along with their two adult sons, Louis and Johann, hope to relocate from Hull to Grantham as soon as possible.
Brought up as an atheist, Pastor Kyriacou became a Christian in his late twenties. In 1999, he left his job as a housing officer in Derby to take BA and MA degrees in Pastoral ministry. He was ordained in 2008.
He has previously worked as a Pastor in Nottingham, Leicester and Humberside. His assistant, Sam Gardner, is a trainee pastor. Mr Gardner has already moved to Grantham from Berkshire where he completed an MA in Theology. His wife, Roxan, will join him soon and their son, Jemaule, began attending Dudley House School in January. Mr Gardner and his family have their roots into the island of Antigua, although he lived in Leicester for some years.”
Sam Gardner served his internship, was ordained as a Pastor and moved on from the district some time ago but Pastor Solon Kyriacou was the Grantham and Skegness Church pastor for the whole ten years and for Newark and Lincoln, each end of that time.

In his time here, Pastor Solon has officiated over the usual baby dedications, baptisms, funerals and weddings, as well as monthly preaching and teaching appointments. He was a Governor on Dudley House School Board, including acting as Chair of the Board of Governors for a number of years, overseeing at least two Ofsted Inspections. At the same time he and Dee have regularly supported the Sunday Breakfast on one of the teams, helped at church work parties and could always be relied on to represent our church at the Meres when the Nottingham Triumph Motorcycle MCC ride into Grantham every Easter and Christmas with gifts for the town.

On 1st July, all four churches of the district joined together to put on a fabulous fellowship lunch, followed by a special service to say, 'Farewell'. Songs were sung, some memories and laughter were shared, and gifts from the churches and good friends were opened to expressions of delight. Finally, with Solon accompanying on his guitar, Dee and Solon sang a duet - the emotive hymn, “God be with you 'til we meet again”.

Pastor Solon has taken up ministerial duties in the Nottingham and Mansfield District. Grantham Church wish he and Dee well as they serve in what is a neighbouring district.

We were pleased to welcome Pastor Solon back to our pulpit briefly for the baptism of Joan Lees at the beginning of September (reported separately).