The Archbishop of York, the Most Reverend John Sentamu, has been in the Isle of Man to launch The Sodor Partnership, a new trust set up to work with Island communities. At a dinner hosted by The Sodor Partnership at St John’s Mill on Friday evening, Archbishop Sentamu and other guests of the Bishop of Sodor and Man heard the Bishop describe the venture and, with the help of Scripture Union Ministries Team, Isle of Man, they were introduced to some areas of need that have been identified in the community in advance of setting up the Trust. The Sodor Partnership will give particular emphasis to projects involving young people and families and the Trust has asked to be associated with the Archbishop of York’s Youth Trust which operates throughout the north of England and the Island. Bishop Robert says that the Sodor Partnership Trust defines ‘community and church’ in the widest possible way and wishes to support projects that add value to life. The independent trustees, appointed by the Bishop, will build up funds in order to support initiatives for the benefit of community and church on the Island. Guests at the dinner on Friday evening included representatives of voluntary, community, government and church organisations as well as business people. The dinner was part of the process of looking for people who share the vision and are willing to become supporters. There has been a positive response and several people had already expressed interest in advance of the event in offering expertise or becoming Trustees. Because the Sodor Partnership will work with the Bishop, projects supported will be those with some level of Anglican input but the intention is to work with people of other Christian traditions and in conjunction with secular agencies including voluntary organisations, community groups and government. “It is a small contribution to ‘The Big Society’ that already exists on this Island” says Bishop Robert. Ends