‘Treasure in jars of clay’ 
Robert Mountford, Birmingham Churches Together 
Annual Stoke-on-Trent Civic Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 5 June 2025 / City Centenary Day 
 
 
Introduction 
 
Lord Lieutenant, High Sheriff, Lord Mayor, honoured guests, friends! How wonderful it is to begin this Centenary Day of the great City of Stoke-on-Trent together in this way. As ever, huge thanks are due to my friends and colleagues Lloyd, Helen, Sam, Gareth and all the Saltbox team who have done so much to make this Civic Prayer Breakfast possible. 
 
Writing to Christians in the City of Corinth in 55AD, the great early Christian leader, the Apostle Paul, reminded the believers of the many benefits they had received through their faith in Jesus Christ. Paul also acknowledged the significant challenges and opposition they – like he – faced from some in society because of that faith. The Apostle summarised the tension between the blessings the Christians were enjoying and the challenges they were enduring in the phrase, ‘we have this treasure in jars of clay.’ 
 
The image of ‘treasure in jars of clay’ seems a highly appropriate one to use in the context of Stoke-on-Trent, both because of our illustrious pottery heritage and because the city has experienced more than its fair share of challenges and disadvantages over the centuries and through to the present day. Some of you here address those challenges daily in your work in commerce or industry, health-care or education, social care or law-and-order, transport or the environment. Much credit for your ongoing commitment to address the causes and effects of deprivation, to improve the quality of life and to enhance the city’s future prospects – and more power to your elbow! 
 
As people of the Potteries, we are well aware of the vulnerability and fragility of ‘jars of clay.’ But today, on this City Centenary day, I want to focus on the blessings we enjoy, rather than the challenges we face. I invite you to join me for a few minutes in celebrating some of the ‘treasures in our jars of clay.’ 
 
1.The treasure of community 
 
I begin with the treasure of community. Family ties have traditionally been strong in the Potteries, none more so than the mother/daughter relationship. In previous generations, extended families often lived in the same, or neighbouring, street. They worked at the same pit or potbank, worshipped at the same chapel, played in the same local park, bought their oatcakes and pikelets from the same corner shop, their groceries from Boyce Adams, their meat pies from Wrights and their clothing from Naylors, Huntbaches, or Bratt and Dykes. 
 
The outcome was tight-knit, local communities. We are said to be a city made up of six towns, but, in reality, there are close to 100 individual, named geographical communities within the city boundary. Alphabetically-speaking, they begin with Abbey Hulton and end with Westport. While not helping with strategic planning at the city-wide level, this strong sense of local community remains a source of identity, belonging and resilience. Our Residents’ Associations are built upon – and in turn feed back into – this strong sense of geographical community. Having seen a number of City Councillors here this morning, we take the opportunity to thank you for the work you do in the communities in your respective wards. 
 
And then we are blessed with numerous diverse communities of interest, which include choirs, bands, orchestras, schools and other educational organisations, reading groups, history groups, youth clubs, allotments, pubs, gyms, health clubs, walking groups and sports clubs of every type. Add into the mix the community work undertaken by the Stoke City, Port Vale and Hubb Foundations, and the support provided by VAST for the voluntary sector. We acknowledge the contribution of faith-based communities, who run groups and activities for the young, the old and everyone in between. 
 
Behind each of these diverse groups are committed community-builders, the unsung heroes who day-by-day work hard to build bridges, strengthen community cohesion and create opportunity in their particular context. Over the last 18 years, our friends Martin Tideswell, Jenny Amphlett and their team have profiled the amazing work of many such individuals and organisations through the ‘Your Heroes Awards,’ with the 19th campaign now underway. This week, being the 2025 Volunteers’ Week, provides a timely opportunity to acknowledge and honour our community champions, including many of you in the room today. 
 
Such people could well be described in the words of Jesus as, ‘the salt of the earth.’ Faced with a 21st Century pandemic of isolation and loneliness, each of our diverse communities plays an important role in the life of our city. On this City Centenary Day, we celebrate the treasure of community. 
 
2.The treasure of creativity 
 
Then I invite you to join me in celebrating the treasure of creativity. The stated reason that King George V granted the County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent its city status in June 1925 was the ‘immense importance of the pottery industry to the nation and the British Empire.’ And the world has been enriched by the treasure of hugely creative people in the pottery industry. The surnames Adams, Whieldon, Wedgwood, Spode, Wood, Minton, Dudson, Meigh, Ridgway, Campbell and Doulton are headliners among many others. The creative genius of Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper and Susan Williams-Ellis remind us of the immense importance of women to the success of the pottery industry. 
 
Thankfully, such treasure is not confined to the past. Our rich ceramic heritage has fostered a unique atmosphere of creativity and innovation. Today we could mention Valentines Clays, Emma Bridgwater, Middleport Pottery, Duchess China and The Great Pottery Throwdown. We celebrate the 2024 award of World Craft City status, the development of the Longton Exchange and the Spode Works Studios, and the coming of British Ceramics Biennial, which from 6 September to 19 October will once again showcase our rich ceramic heritage and contemporary design. 
 
And the treasure of creativity is not limited to the pottery industry. From among us came the canal pioneer James Brindley, the inventor of the spark plug Sir Oliver Lodge, the designer of the Spitfire Reginald Mitchell, the author Arnold Bennett, the football genius Sir Stanley Matthews and world champion darts player Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor. Musicians Slash and Robbie Williams are each proud of their North Staffordshire roots – and did somebody mention Burslemmy?! It’s good to have the celebrated sculptor Andy Edwards with us this morning, whose statue of Lemmy was unveiled in Burslem just four weeks ago. Not forgetting Andy’s cousin, the musical genius that is Paul Critchley. 
 
Stoke-on-Trent is rightly recognised for its vibrant creative scene. The Portland Inn Project is blazing a trail in community-led architecture, the Claybody Theatre in drama and ‘Stoke Creates’ in the arts and culture. We celebrate the cutting-edge technology being developed at Staffs University, which is pioneering in the areas of gaming, animation, film-making and product design. We remember that BBC Radio Stoke was one of the early pioneers of local radio, followed by United Christian Broadcasters and Cross Rhythms City Radio. The launch of Ruff’n’Ruby’s pioneering mobile app ‘Uth City’ took place just five weeks ago. 
 
Stoke-on-Trent was, and is, a mother of pioneers, a birthplace of invention and innovation, a cradle of creativity and a nursery of dreams. We don’t forget that our city was built on the hard work of men, women and (in the early years) children in the pits and pots. For us, inspiration has always been accompanied by perspiration, and craft by graft. On this City Centenary Day, we celebrate the treasure of creativity. 
 
3.The treasure of faith 
 
Alongside the treasures of community and creativity, I celebrate the treasure of faith. The roots of Christian faith in the area lie just over the road from here, in the churchyard of Stoke Minster. There in the 7th Century that a small Christian community lived, worshipped and worked at the confluence of the River Trent and the Fowlea Brook. The name of that community, Stoke upon Trent, ‘the holy place on the flooding river,’ defines the city to this day. Christian faith has played a central role in North Staffordshire’s story in the 14 Centuries since then. Who could measure the beneficial impact on individuals, families and communities of the Christian faith in its Anglican, Baptist, Congregational, Evangelical, Methodist, Pentecostal, Quaker, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and/or United Reformed Church traditions? 
 
Some consider the Christian Church a spent force in the 21st Century. However, surveys conducted in 2024 by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life and YouGov reported a significant increase in church attendance, especially among 18–24-year-olds. These findings are borne out anecdotally in the city in long-established congregations such as Swan Bank Church and in more recently-planted congregations such as Potters Church in Birches Head, Presence Church in Hanley and the Redeemed Christian Church of God Living Water Parish here in Stoke. As the Christian apologist CS Lewis put it in ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (showing at the Regent Theatre this week, tickets still available!), ‘Aslan (for whom read Jesus) is on the move.’ 
 
Congregations belonging to our historic Churches have been supplemented by the arrival of indigenous and ethnic Pentecostal churches, plus five Orthodox congregations, with the result that, this coming Pentecost Sunday, no fewer than 125 Christian congregations will be meeting for worship within the city boundary. We also acknowledge the significant contribution made by faith-based organisations, including the Beacon House of Prayer, Cross Rhythms City Radio, Emmaus, Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank, Number 11, Ruff’n’Ruby, Saltbox, UCB, Walk Ministries and the YMCA. And we remember that 24 of the city’s 71 primary schools are Church schools, 12 each for the Roman Catholics and Church of England. And St Peter’s Academy is one of four faith-based High Schools in Stoke-on-Trent, ensuring that the seeds of Christian faith are being sown in the lives of the coming generation. 
 
Alongside this, in recent decades, other faiths have been introduced into the city, with the result that we now have 18 Mosques, several madrassas, two Sikh gurdwaras and one Hindu mandir (temple). Each of these acts as a social, cultural and educational hub, in addition to its respective spiritual focus. Faith, it seems, will play an increasingly important role as we enter the next chapter in the city’s story. On this City Centenary Day, at the 2025 annual Civic Prayer Breakfast, we celebrate the treasure of faith. 
 
Conclusion 
 
During my address, I feel sure you were thinking of the names of other people or organisations worthy of recognition for their contribution to the city’s development and wellbeing. As you will appreciate, it is impossible for me to have mentioned every person or group worthy of inclusion on the list. I invite you to join me through the day in honouring the people known to you who have played, or who still play, a part in our city’s unfolding story. Where possible, why not contact them during the day with a word of appreciation for the contribution they are making? 
 
And, when these few days of celebration are over, we will continue to play our part to improve the city’s life and to lay a foundation for the generations that will take Stoke-on-Trent forward into the future. It is impossible for us to second-guess what life in the city will be like 100 years from now, just as those present on Friday 5 June 1925 could surely not have imagined the transformations made through advances in medicine, transport, technology and media in the 100 years since then. However, in whatever ways life will be transformed by the internet, Artificial Intelligence, or by innovations not yet dreamed of, I suggest that community, creativity and faith will remain ‘treasure in our jars of clay.’ Long may each continue. 
 
May God bless each of you, and may God bless the City of Stoke-on-Trent. 

Birmingham Churches Together