ALL CREATURES great and small were welcome at St Giles' Church for a special animal-friendly service.
Rev Dr Emma Pennington invited her flock to bring their pets along to the Horspath church in celebration of the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.
She said: "It all links in with St Francis and how he was believed to be able to talk to the birds. We held a shorter half hour service and I wanted to encourage people to think about what their pets mean to them."
Owners were also invited to take their furry friends up for a blessing at the end of the service.
Alongside the vicar's own black and white cat Smudge and dog Flossie, were Julie Gurden's more unusual pets - a pair of tenrecs. Found in Madagascar and parts of the African mainland, the creatures closely resemble hedgehogs but are actually unrelated.
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