HOW A METHODIST MINISTER WILL BE MARKING BELFAST CITY MISSION’S 130 YEARS OF CARING FOR ELDERLY
Rev David Campton, superintendent of Belfast City Mission, tells Linda Stewart how he was the target of an arson attack when he first began working with the charity and why he is now planning to walk from Carrickfergus to Millisle to celebrate its latest project
Belfast Central Mission superintendent Rev David Campton is marking the 130th anniversary of the charity this year by undertaking a walk from the historic Castlerocklands in Carrickfergus to the mission’s newest care home in Millisle.
Dr Campton (54) is from east Belfast and his wife, Sally, is the voluntary and community director for Abbeyfield Wesley. They have two sons, Owain (24) and Ciaran (18).
“I was born and brought up in east Belfast and have spent most of my ministry in Belfast, not by design by any manner or means,” he says.
He left Northern Ireland in the mid1980s to study biology in Edinburgh, never intending to come back, and was planning a career in theatre.
But he was struck by a new sense of vocation as a result of a series of events back home — the Enniskillen bombing and the 14 days of violence that culminated in the deaths of two soldiers in Andersonstown.
“It was everything I left Northern Ireland to get away from but, at the same time, it was part of my vocation to come back ... it was a sense of , ‘What are you doing to make a difference?’ ” he says.
He returned home at the age of 26, now married to Sally, and started out in the Methodist ministry, first serving in Glastry and Portaferry before being moved to the Belfast Central Mission circuit.
He was working with churches in Sandy Row and the Springfield Road, including a church at Workham Avenue where the peace wall ran through the premises.
“Four days after I took over as minister, I had my first arson attack,” he says. “I was thrown into the deep end in my first experience of the Belfast Central Mission circuit and it’s strange 20 years later to be coming back as superintendent to the circuit.”
The mission started life 130 years ago as an evangelical initiative of the Methodist church in Sandy Row as part of the Church’s response to the pressures of inner city life, developing quickly thanks to the insight of founder Rev Crawford Johnson.
“As it wasn’t really reaching those who needed the most help, it developed very quickly into, not an evangelical project, but a social welfare mission, based on the model of the missions that were developing in Britain at that stage,” Rev Campton says.
The missions had two main objectives: promoting the Christian religion and providing services to address social need across Northern Ireland.
“At the minute, the main social welfare initiatives of the mission include extensive housing support and supporting both older people and young parents in their homes,” Rev Campton says.
“It operates from Dungannon to Belfast in different forms. We have sheltered housing for young people coming out of care or who have been made homeless at projects in Dungannon, Magherafelt, Belfast and Bangor. We have support for parents in Newtownards and Dungannon. That is there to prevent some of the issues that can result in children ending up in care.
“At the other end of the spectrum, we have our housing support for older people and sheltered housing for older people, such as- the residential supported housing at Kirk House.”
The latest initiative is a new £5.5m facility in Millisle called Copelands, which will offer continuity of support from sheltered housing through to nursing support for those with dementia.
The seed money for this project was provided by the sale of the former Castlerocklands residential home in Carrickfergus, a Victorian building which had to be closed 25 years ago as it was unsustainable, Rev Campton says.
The new Copelands is being devel
oped on the site of the former children’s home at Craigmore.
“The approach for Belfast Central Mission has always been to respond to the need as it is now, rather than to simply keep doing what it has always been doing,” Rev Campton says.
“Copelands will be a gold-standard dementia facility. It’s a new phase of work and model for us to work with others in terms of addressing this very pressing need.”
Rev Campton came up with the idea to celebrate the new facility and mark the 130 th anniversary of the mission by walking from the former Castlerocklands home in Carrickfergus to the new Copelands home, although he drew the line at walking a mile for every year of the mission’s history.
“I didn’ t f eel brave enough to walk 130 miles. It did feel symbolic making the move from Castlerocklands to Copelands and taking in some of the projects in Belfast en route. It’s a good way of marking 130 years,” he says.
“As a 54- year- old diabtetic who spends most of his time at a desk or in the car, I didn’t want to overstretch myself, so I’m doing it in three days, which allows time for other people to join in and stop off and enjoy a coffee on the way. Depending on how far we meander off the route, it’s a walk of 33 miles over three days, starting in Carrickfergus and going to our headquarters on the first day, then going via Kirk House to Ards, then from Ards to see some of our newest facilities in Bangor and visiting the summer fete at Killard House.
“We’re hoping very much to be there in time for it closing and then to reach Copelands in late afternoon. That is the plan.”
Rev Campton is off on sabbatical at the moment and has spent part of that time in the Cascade mountains in Washington State, although he admits he didn’t get as much walking practice there as he had hoped because of the threat of bear activity.
“If you went walking, you had to have bear spray with you — that’s a hazard that I probably won’t have on the road from Carrickfergus to Millisle. However I am heading out on the Lagan towpath today to get a bit of practice in,” he jokes.
Anyone who wishes to join Rev Campton on his walk can obtain more information by emailing anniversarywalk@belfastcentralmission.org or by calling 9024 1917. Full details of his route is available on both the Belfast Central Mission website and Facebook page, while donations can be made by searching for ‘David Campton’ on Justgiving.com. BCM is running the Copelands Summer Fete on Saturday from 10am to 2pm at Killard House School in Donaghadee. Details can be found on the BCM website and Facebook