Bradford North Circuit

The evening service held at Crag Road on 1 February was a Circuit Service, to welcome the arrival of Anna as Children’s Ministry Enabler, and also to commission Peter J, Heather A and Kim and Mike A as Lay Communion Visitors. It was an uplifting service, and was well-attended. Quite a number of people came from Knaresborough to support Anna. A collection taken up at the service raised £184.50 for Christians Against Poverty . 

The Drop-In at Crag Road Methodist is struggling to keep open. Six members of our team have become seriously ill over the Christmas period.  Founded 2003 to offer confidentiality, friendship, support and hope to all, we are open every Friday 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm. If you feel that you would like to be involved with this ministry, even for a short period of several months, please contact David or Jenny for more information.

On Tuesday 13 th January at 7:30 pm at St. Andrews , I uttered the fateful words “There will be no snow, I have banned it”. At 7:31 pm, it began to snow! On Wednesday 14 th it snowed. We decided to go ahead with the celebration, and after anxious phone calls from various people, we prepared to receive our guests. The weather might have been inclement, but the warmth of fun in the church was wonderful. Everyone was having a great time. After a vast quantity of tea/coffee and cakes, buns, etc, we settled down to a game of Musical Bingo. A visitor commented: “How can they guess the tunes, when they are all singing the songs?” Well, that is part of the magic. Soon it was lunch and everyone had a right royal feast. (We had declared the day a non-diet day!) After a delightful lunch we were entertained b...

There was a huge Christmas party held at the St. Andrew's church hall on 21st December, which included Christmas carols, a Christmas message and Asian food. The superintendent minister, Rev Nick Blundell, did the opening prayer for the Christmas programme. In this programme, we prayed for the people in Great Britain, for the Government and for Queen of Great Britain as well. We pray that God will give her long and healthy life.  People from all over the England attended this party and also people from other faiths were present. They also took part in the Christmas carols.  We received the following letter from the Christian village in Pakistan, which we support:- “Dear friends, Firstly we like to wish you a very happy new year! We pray that this year brings a lot of happiness and ...

In December, Thornton Methodist Church displayed paper Christmas trees representing the 12 days of Christmas. Each church group and all the organisations who hire our hall throughout the year, were asked to decorate a tree. All agreed to do so and the 12 trees were displayed from the first Sunday in Advent until the end of the Christmas period. So that as many people as possible could see the trees, an open morning was held on Saturday 13th December. Tea & coffee was served together with mince pies. Christmas music was played to provide a festive atmosphere. The trees provided a refreshing change to our usual decorations and were appreciated by all who commented upon them. A wonderful way to get everyone connected with o...

After 6 months of hard work, finding a warehouse, venues for the foodbank centres, volunteers and above all a large supply of food to be given out, the first ‘live’ session of a foodbank centre took place on Monday 12 January at Church on the Way, Five Lane Ends. On the following Thursday, St Luke’s Church, Eccleshill opened as the second foodbank centre. It is hoped that a third centre, at Shipley Baptist Church, will be opened in March. There will then be three venues, every week, to which needy people in BD2, BD9, 10 and 18 can be referred. I stress that we are not in competition with the other foodbanks in Bradford. The sad fact is that there is such a need for emergency food parcels in our city, that all the foodbanks are likely to be busy for several years to come. We are all showing God’s love to people, many of whom do not know him. God has blessed us in our preparations. We have found a perfect building for our warehouse, on the Inspire Bradford Business Park be...

HEATON CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL                              Members of Haworth Road Church were invited by St. Barnabas Church, Heaton to join in their Christmas Tree Festival and decorate one of the trees. We accepted their invitation and were delighted to be part of a local community event.  There were around 30 trees, all with lights provided. These were decorated by local churches, schools, businesses and individual families. (Our tree is the second from the left!!) On Advent Sunday evening an Ecumenical and Community Carol Service was held. This was a fitting and moving way to end their Celebration Weekend and the trees remained in the Church until 4 th J...

Thornton Methodist Church produced a Pantomime which was given on two nights (Friday 6th & Saturday 7 th December). The Pantomime was ‘Red Riding Hood and the Magic Wood’ which was written by Sharon Pilkington. All the cast were from our Church and both shows were well attended. It was a modern version of the traditional story which had lots of audience participation and finished with a happy ending. Both the cast and the audiences had a very good time and it was great to have so many people from the village attending along with their children. Very good work by all the cast and the backroom staff too. We are already looking forward to next year’s production Geoff B, Thornton

It was wonderful to see our church full of families at our Carol and Gift Service.  Everyone gave generously of toys and food for those less fortunate than ourselves in our community.  Our young people, including cubs, scouts and their families, joined in a very different nativity led by Dave. This lovely family service topped off what was a fantastic weekend at Allerton.  Our annual Coffee and Carols event in aid of Action for Children was really well supported.  Lots of new faces and a whopping £367 raised for the charity.  Thank you to all who helped in any way.  Special thanks to Ley Top Singing Stars and Claire Pipe.

We have had a very successful year, with members telling us how much they enjoy the chance to get together with friends and enjoy good food and good company. We ended the year with a Christmas Meal and a sing song led by Helen and Margaret.  A brilliant time was had by all. Sarah R, Allerton

On my recent trip to Ghana, I visited two cocoa farming communities who are part of Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative set up and owned by cocoa farmers. It provides the cocoa used to make Divine Chocolate, which you may well have enjoyed. Kuapa Kokoo started in 1993 with 5 farmers but is now a huge enterprise with 87,907 farmers based in 1,241 villages in Ghana.  They appeared well-organised and well-motivated to maintain fair trade principles with a Farmers’ Trust of elected members from all areas, who decide how the fair trade premium should be spent.  Amongst other projects, they have built schools, health clinics and business development centres.  The premium is also used to run a Credit Union, which has helped women to diversify by selling handicrafts, mainly tie-dye and batik fabrics, t...

Hello, my name is Anna, and I am the circuit’s new Children’s Ministry Enabler. I am from Knaresborough in North Yorkshire. I became a Christian at around the age of 14. I was a member of a Methodist youth fellowship group and went with a friend from the age of 12. I was part of several Bible study groups, and away days, and my faith grew. When I was 15, a mission team from Cliff College came to the church that the group was part of, and I went to a church service for the first time, which was a turning point in my faith, and I have attended regularly from then on. I later attended Cliff College, was part of several missions myself and completed an Honours degree in Theology. In my spare time, I enjoy walking, running, listening to a wide range of music, and playing the keyboard (not that successfully!). I have enjoyed meeting and working with many of you, and I look forward to meeting and working with those of you who I haven’t met yet. Anna Anna started work ...