|
Enter text here
Holy Trinity Church, Towngate, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
Parish Priest
Revd Keith Griffin, 3 Vicarage Meadows, Holmfirth, HD9 1DZ tel. 01484 682644
revdkg@tiscali.co.uk
Welcome to the webpage for Holmfirth Parish Church. Our church is situated in the very centre of Holmfirth, a market town in the Upper Holme Valley in West Yorkshire.
As you can see, this is a small webpage on the site for the Upper Holme Valley Team. We include here some information about our church and contact numbers if you wish to find out more.
You are always welcome to join us at one of our services at 10.30 on a Sunday morning. During the spring and summer we open our church to visitors as much as we can, especially at weekends and on bank holidays. We enjoy welcoming people who come to pray, to sit quietly, to look at our building and to browse among our large secondhand bookstall.
The following letter is included in our parish magazine for August
Letter from Keith
Dear Friends
Welcome to a new-lookmagazine. In its last incarnation there have been almost one hundred issued of our church's monthly publication so it seemed like it was time for a change. The content remains much the same and, of course, the editor always welcomes offers of new material.
Last month saw the filming of Songs of Praise in the Holme Valley and the programme goes out on the last Sunday of this time month. When the BBC approached us this time around we encouraged them to put together a programme reflecting the present and future of our community, rather than concentration too much on Last of the Summer Wine. It turns out that they were under some pressure to commemorate the end of the long running series but we hope that the result will be a worthy celebration of life and faith in the valley.
You may be wondering where we are up to with our building project. Well, the last few months have been a little frustrating with various hold-ups but at the time of going to press we are on the verge of pressing the button marked Go! Dare I suggest that by the time the September magazine aappears we should have scaffolding up on the church? Watch this space.
I wish you well if August is when you take your annual holiday. Please take n ote of the different schedule of services in the team for the middle three Sundays of this month. It may be that we'll be welcoming some visitors from other churches of you may want to take the opportujity to worship elsewhere. Go on, why not go and see what another church is doing!
Keith
~~~~~~~~~For Your Diary~~~~~~~~~
August Services and Events
| |
SERVICES |
|
| |
8.00 am Holy Communion (BCP) 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month |
|
| |
|
|
| |
10.30 am Parish Eucharist weekly |
|
|
|
|
|
SUNDAY CLUB |
|
|
Meet 10.30 am during term time only |
|
| |
|
|
|
MOTHERS' UNION |
|
|
Meet on the last Wednesday of the month 2pm |
|
| |
|
|
|
CHOPPARDS MISSION |
|
| |
3.00 pm usually first Sunday of the month |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Forthcoming events
CHOIR REHEARSAL -
SENIOR MOMENTS - Wednesday 18th August 10.00 am
MOTHERS' UNION Refreshment Day - Monday 30 August 11.30 am
|
Bishop’s Lent Appeal 2010
Mara: a new project with the charity Pump Aid. The aim of the project is threefold:
- To provide health education to communities highlighting the effect of clean drinking water and proper hygiene on people’s well being.
- To provide clean water facilities using local materials.
- To provide training within the communities to enable them to install as well as maintain these elephant pumps and toilets.
A pump will cost about £250 and a toilet £10. There are also the costs of health education and training on top of the capital expense. Any financial help would be very greatly appreciated. Please do continue to pray for our link diocese, giving thanks for the last 20 years and looking forward to the next 20!
AFIA (Away from it all holidays) is a scheme run by the Mothers’ Union to give a holiday to people under stress who wouldn’t otherwise get one. In Wakefield the holidays are tailored to particular needs; many families enjoy a week in an MU caravan on the East Coast on a site with full facilities, while other people benefit from time in a guesthouse. Recently, Wakefield MU has managed to arrange 10-12 holidays every year. The Mothers’ Union would be grateful for financial support, but also hope that churches will be able to make this opportunity more widely known, and to pray for the work. If you would like more details, please contact Mothers’ Union Away From It All Holidays, Church House,
1 South Parade, Wakefield WF1 1LP. |
|
~~~~~~~~Mothers' Union~~~~~~~~
Branch Leader: to be appointed
Meetings are held at 2.30p.m. in the Gallery Room of the church, following a service at 2pm.
~~~~~History~~~~~
Items concerning the history of Holy Trinity Church (memories, anecdotes, photographs) should be sent to Kay Booth (kay1405@btinternet.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four Went to Mara - September 2006
 
Mara
We are looking forward to welcoming Arthur Mauya and his assistant Grace Enock to Wakefield this month. As part of the programme arranged for the visit Grace will be spending a week in the Upper Holme Valley. She will be joining us at Holy Trinity onSunday October 21st. Please introduce yourself to Grace and give her a good Holy Trinity welcome.
During the week she will be about the Team,visiting schools and Huddersfield Monday market and sampling our countryside on various walks and also visiting a play at Shelley. If you would like to join in any of the events and want further details please let me know.
Kay Booth
To Mara and Back
See Article under above title.
Choppards Mission
 
Choppards Mission is in a beautiful pastoral setting near the head of the Ribble Valley in Holmfirth Parish. It was built in 1839 for the purpose of teaching the illiterate children of the surrounding hamlets reading, writing and instruction in the Christian religion. Families were large and there were 191 children on the register in 1843, a huge number considering the small size of the building. It was quite common for pupils to work in the mill in the valley and attend school half time. This continued until Hade Edge Council School was built in 1899, when some pupils were transferred there. Later Holmfirth Council School was built and Choppards was no longer needed as a day school after 1914. However, the Sunday School continued to be at the heart of the community, having some outstanding and dedicated workers. The church festivals provided a structured framework for the years’ activities and the lives of the villagers revolved around these.
From about 1960 onwards there was a decline in the population, many of the primitive cottages were demolished, and the congregation attending the Sunday School became very much depleted. The faithful members were now struggling to meet the ever increasing expenses of repairs to the building and providing adequate heating in the large hall, and in 1983 they decided to make the small upper classroom into a chapel. This involved a lot of hard work for such a small group, but it provided a more comfortable room for the services. On completion of the work, the then Bishop of Wakefield, the Rt Revd David Hope, later Archbishop of York, performed a Service of Dedication.
The building is now a popular venue for church groups and for private hire, also being used as a rehearsal room by a local theatre group. In December it provides a wonderful setting for the Candlelit Carol Service which is always very well attended.
The Mission Church is part of the Upper Holme Valley Group of Churches, and the Team Vicar is Revd Keith Griffin. Services continue to be held in the Worship Room on the first Sunday of the month, a eucharist at 3pm, and also some additional services. In 2006 after more fundraising, the chapel was totally renovated in a very striking and beautiful way, by a volunteer team of church members who are talented artists. The result is quite exceptional, and when the Bishop of Wakefield, The Rt Revd Stephen Platten, rededicated the room in September 2006, there was a large congregation of past and present members.
Today the numbers are showing signs of steadily increasing, as friends discover the warm welcome shown to all who visit Choppards Mission, whether it be for worship of for one of the fundraising events which are held. There is a real community spirit amongst the small band of workers and a determination to keep the Mission open, when so many of the smaller places of worship have closed. With God’s Grace, we hope to do this.
Margaret Lockwood
|
