Published on: 12/11/2026
Students from Mercia Northridge School were treated to a special tour of the Houses of Parliament this week, with Bishop Pete hosting a Q+A session.
Jonathan Buckley, who is a Governor at Mercia Northridge, shares the experiences the group had during Tuesday’s visit:
In 2015, I was working for the YMCA in Rotherham and Sheffield with Bishop Steven Croft, then Bishop of Sheffield and previously one of our Presidents. We’d met him a few months previously to share with him some of our work with local Young People, and he mentioned in passing that if we ever took young people to London that he’d be more than happy to show them around Parliament if we could coincide dates with when he was sitting in the Lords.
So, in November 2015, I found myself on a train to London with a group of Young People to meet Bishop Steven for a tour of Parliament. It was a really good trip which went well; but it was always only a one-off trip which I never thought I’d get chance to reproduce.
But then…
Over the Summer of 2020, a staff member at Chaucer School – what is now Mercia Northridge in Parson Cross, contacted me to ask if I’d be interested in becoming a Community Governor, to which I eventually said yes.
Fast forward to February 2023, and we were in the playground at Graves Park when we bumped into a couple of friends with their Grandkids; one of whom worked with Bishop Pete. A few weeks later, and I spotted on the Diocesan Facebook page that Bishop Pete had been appointed as one of the Lord Spirituals in the House of Lords. Putting two and two together, I started to wonder – ‘Could we take a group of students from Parson Cross again to see Parliament with Bishop Pete?’
That wondering led to positive conversations with staff at Chaucer (Mercia Northridge) School; Bishop Pete and Wendy, his PA; as well as with the education department at Parliament. On the 18June 2024, I found myself on a coach with a couple of staff members and a group of students from the school to Parliament for a Tour of the building and a Q&A with Bishop Pete.
We were all keen that this wasn’t a one-off, and that we kept on creating opportunities for local students to visit London and Parliament – engaging with Bishop Pete where we could. In November 2025, the school returned for a visit to Parliament – as well as an overnight stay at the German YMCA hotel in Central London, although unfortunately we couldn’t coincide dates with Bishop Pete’s diary. However, with a group of Y10 students taking RE as a GCSE for the first time in a number of years at the school, we were able to arrange for Bishop Pete to come into school to share about his role as a Bishop and in the House of Lords in the Summer of 2025.
I write this a couple of days after our most recent trip to London when we were able to coincide the date with Bishop Pete’s commitments in the House of Lords. Leaving school at 7.30am, a group of 14 students, 2 staff members and myself as a School Governor arrived at Parliament just after midday. We were met by Bishop Pete, who very graciously had booked a Committee Room in the House of Lords to meet with staff and students. He was able to share about his and the bishops’ role in the Lords; share some trivia, and answer student questions.
We had an hour before our Tour and Workshop of Parliament, so we walked up Whitehall to Horse Guards Parade before returning for a tour. We were able to sit in the public gallery of both the Commons and Lords, both of which were sitting whilst we were there which was a real treat.
The day ended with a Workshop and a visit from Gill Furniss, the MP for Parson Cross before returning to Sheffield on coach. Having left home at 7.30am, we returned at 10pm.