Bradford North Circuit

Rock Solid is the new youth club for 9-13 year olds at Wilsden Trinity Church . It aims to provide a group for older children to follow on from Wilsden Trinity’s other youth club, Friends and Heroes. Every Tuesday we meet for games, Bible stories, sweets, crafts and chats. Highlights so far include wrapping people up as mummies, making ice cream sundaes, playing Zip Zap Boing (which is as confusing as it sounds), building Easter gardens and making lava lamps. We set aside a good amount of time just for chatting, and each week we have a “Millstone, Milestone” section – each person can say if they’ve had a difficult week (millstone) or a brilliant week (milestone) and why. This has been a platform for many entertaining anecdotes and tales that the group has shared together. Rock Solid started in March 2017, and so far numbers are low. Our small group has fun, but we would love to welcome some new members! All children and young people between the ages of 9-13 can join. It is £2 on the ...

There was a protest held for the memorial of Manchester attack victims on Thursday 25th May. This took place in Centenary Square, Bradford. Many people from different religions and races attended this memorial. There were a lot of flowers and candles in the memory of the victims.   As these photographs show, those attending included: the Bishop of Bradford, Rt Rev Toby Howarth; Bradford MPs Naz Shah and Imran Hussain; the ex-Lord Mayor, Rev Geoff Reid and the current Lord Mayor, Cllr Abid Hussain, Saleem and Joyce Dutt, Pastor Joel, Mrs Anjum and many other ministers from different Churches. A group representing the Bradford South Asian Forum was there to show their respect and support. There were a lot of police in evidence, for the safety of Bradford. It was great to see everybody standing together to show solidarity against terrorism and to prove that such incidents will not drive us apart.   Saleem and Joyce D, St Andrew’s...

The West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) has added a section on climate change to its “Risk” chapter. This reflects the growing calls over the last three years from the financial sector and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) that funds must assess and deal with the financial risks that climate change poses. The new section 5.3 states: “The fund recognises the risks and opportunities associated with climate change, and will seek to measure carbon exposure within the equity portfolio and reduce that exposure over time. The fund will continue to increase investment in low carbon technology and renewable energy in order to encourage and facilitate further progression toward a cleaner economy.” Thank you for those of you who wrote to the WYPF and supported our Memorials to the Methodist Conference advocating this vital change as part of our campaign to reduce the global warming threatening the integrity of God’s creation. John A, Baildon

Bradford North H@H was set for 3/4/5th July. On Monday 3rd July, we found over 53 guests and helpers descend on St. Andrews at 10am. We had several first timers, who soon settled in and began to enjoy themselves. The morning was taken up with getting to know one another and having a couple of quizzes. Tuesday 4th July dawned bright and our coach (nice and new) arrived on time and so did our happy wanderers. We set off towards Liverpool to Knowsley Safari Park. Upon arrival, we had a delightful lunch. After lunch, we boarded our cage (coach) to go and see the animals, who were free. We were not allowed to go round the baboon enclosure as the coach could be damaged. Wednesday 5th July dawned all too quickly. This morning we were introduced to Chris Ellerton, who is an artist. He showed us how easy it is to do oil painting. Well, he made it look easy. This was very enjoyable and involved our participation. After lunch, we were royally entertained by the Bradford Ukelele Band. E...

We celebrated the Sunday School Anniversary by having a Craft Fair on Saturday 1 st July. There were a variety of stalls and food was available throughout the event.     On Sunday 2 nd July, the Sunday School led us in worship. The children, led by Sharon P, did a wonderful job. The theme was ‘Joy’ and the activities and hymns reflected this. All the children were given prizes which this year were musical instruments and we look forward to the children using them in future services. This was followed by a luncheon provided by the Sunday School. Many of the congregation stayed and enjoyed the proceedings. Many thanks to Sharon and Carol for gathering the Church Family together and enabling us to spend time with each other. Elaine B, Thornton -->

I do not believe that an Eco-congregation can exist in green quietude, within the safe walls of a building. It must reach out, if we are to have any real impact on society’s response to global warming. Baildon Eco-congregation founded Baildon Friends of the Earth (FoE). The latter has now, in turn, set up the Glenaire Primary School ‘Run on Sun Fun(d) Charitable Trust’  which aims to inspire and energise the pupils of the school about solar power, renewable energy and the need to combat global warming. Pupils are enthusiastic: the school council has suggested many ways of solar development for their institution, which has Eco-school status. Moreover, they aim to raise £5,500 to install photovoltaic (PV) electricity-generating panels on the roof of their school, which has 222 pupils, including above average numbers on free school meals and 28.25% on the Special Educational Needs Register. Their interest is augmented by the fact that some of the properties near the school w...

--> Dear friends, The end of June saw me on a retreat at the Briery in Ilkley. It was led by Father Daniel O'Leary and the title was "The Religious Mind or the Broken Heart". Daniel was focusing on how we can observe our religious rituals to the limit, and feel we have got it right, or we can  accept our brokenness and our need of God's continued help in our lives. It's one thing to look at the Pharisees and say they got it wrong, but we too need to make sure we are not letting self-reliance, and a sense of self-righteousness, creep in. We find it hard to simply accept God's gifts to us. We tend to want to do something to earn them, or to prove that we've changed. To go on accepting makes us feel dependent, yet that is what we are, and so it is best to humbly acknowledge that we are, instead of trying to earn our way. When we can simply accept, we can let go of the burden of trying to please, and begin to learn to be ourselves. Th...