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Our chaplain, the Reverend Monica Mills, began her ministry in Cardiff Bay in May 2005.
Goleulong 2000 Lightship
Harbour Drive
Cardiff
CF10 45PA
02920 487609
My name is Monica Mills and I came to Cardiff Bay from an Ecumenical Parish Ministry in Banbury, Oxfordshire. My ministry has always been in ecumenical settings, in lay ministry with the Royal Navy in Portsmouth and Gosport, and in ordained ministry in Essex and Oxfordshire.
My heart is for the folk in the community and for God’s love to be shown, known and recognised. The challenge of working within the Bay Community is very exciting as I begin to relate and be there for those who work within the Millennium Centre, County Hall, National Assembly, the many restaurants and shops, and the Waterfront Partners, not forgetting the very many visitors to the Lightship itself.
The ministry aboard the Lightship is a very different proposition to a traditional church model and allows me to minister with much more freedom and to provide opportunities for visitors to be ‘surprised by God’.
I am married to Peter, who is a retired Naval Officer and qualified Youth and Community Worker. He works in restorative justice with young people in Cardiff, as well as being involved with the Lightship. With two children, two stepchildren and four grandchildren, family is very important to us both. Although our family all live down south in England we continue to see them regularly. Our family here in Cardiff is completed with our two golden retrievers, Nelson and Baxter, who themselves have become a recognised part of the Bay community as they accompany us in our activities.
Both Peter and I are keen sailors and spend much of our leisure time on the water. We are looking forward to exploring the Welsh coastline and estuaries and eventually venturing further to Irish and Scottish waters.
As a ‘Yorkshire lass’ I am something of a foreigner here in Wales, but I have Celtic roots from my Irish grandfather and Scottish father! I hope to learn some Welsh, even if it is only so that I can pronounce place names correctly