CHURCHGOERS will be taking a new approach to a centuries-old tradition with the help of the Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Paul Butler.

St Michael and All Angels, Houghton-le-Spring, is joining the new international movement Ashes to Go that sees clergy and lay people visiting bus stops, street corners, coffee shops and train stations to mark the foreheads of interested passers-by with ashes and invite them to repent of past wrongdoing and seek forgiveness and renewal.

On Ash Wednesday tomorrow (February 18), churchgoers will be offering the new approach on The Broadway, Houghton-le-Spring, between 7.15am and 9.15am. They will be joined by Bishop Butler.

Ashes to Go provides the opportunity to participate in that tradition for people who have lost their connection to a church, or have never participated before, according to Hougton-le-Spring Rector The Reverend Canon Sue Pinnington.

She said: “Ashes to Go is about bringing the important traditions of our faith out from behind church doors and into the places we need them every day.

“As people get busier and busier, we need the church to be working in new and non-traditional ways. We especially need reminders of forgiveness in the tough places of our working lives.

“I first encountered and took part in Ashes to Go last year in Washington DC and was incredibly moved by the encounters I had with people as they travelled to work.

“This is the first time we have taken part in Ashes to Go here in Houghton and we are delighted that Bishop Paul is joining us.”