A VISITING preacher made a plea at a packed Leominster church for a more compassionate attitude towards asylum seekers.

Popular preacher Christina Le Moignan was greeted with a rare expression of feeling at a Sunday morning service - applause at the beginning and the end.

The Green Lane Methodist Church was full of worshippers from nine churches in the Leominster, Presteigne and Kington circuit.

In recent times, they came to know and like the Rev. Le Moignan, chair of the Birmingham Methodist District. She served temporarily as Leominster's minister for a year prior to the appointment of Superintendent, the Rev. Andrew Deans.

The preacher's visit coincided with Racial Justice Sunday and her address was topical.

The issue of racial justice was as important for Leominster as it was for Birmingham, said Rev. Le Moignan.

"We all read what was written in the media and we all have opinions and unconscious attitudes to racial issues, highlighted most recently by the plight of asylum seekers.''

They were first, and foremost, human beings, she added, appealing for compassion and "neighbourly love."

Book presentations were made to a number of young people and the Revd Bill Searby was given a framed certificate to commemorate 40 years of local preaching.

Christina Le Moignan was presented with flowers and two paintings to commemorate the time she served in North Herefordshire.