The United Benefice of Christ Church, Moldgreen and S T J a Me S ’ Church, Rawthorpe
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The United Benefice of Christ Church, Moldgreen and S t J a me s ’ Church, Rawthorpe Christ Church St James’ Church and Parish Centre PARISH BROCHURE 2017 OUR MISSION STATEMENTS On The Inside St. James’ Church Welcome to Huddersfield 2 Transforming our Lives, Church and Christ Church 4 Community with the Power and Love of God St James’ Church 11 What We Do Together 17 Christ Church Leer to Our Future 18 Living in the love of God, loving one another Parish Priest and making Him known Huddersfield is situated in the eastern foothills of the Pennines, halfway between Leeds and Manchester. According to a UK Census, it is the 10th largest town in the country and in the largest urban area in the United Kingdom (Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees). There is easy access to the M62 & M1 and the Railway Staon. Huddersfield has the most splendid Railway Staon façade, regarded as second only to St Pancras, in London. Huddersfield Railway Staon Huddersfield has the third highest number of listed buildings in the country. The Town has an abundance of Victorian architecture, the most conspicuous being Victoria Tower on the top of Castle Hill overlooking the town. Castle Hill 2 The town and the surrounding areas are ideal for vising stately homes, restaurants, pubs, farm shops, garden shops as well as for walking, hiking and cycling. Huddersfield is sll a manufacturing town for texles, chemicals, engineering and electronics. There are a number of niche manufacturers. The University of Huddersfield is the largest employer. A FEW FAMOUS PEOPLE BORN IN HUDDERSFIELD Harold Wilson KG, Lord Wilson of Rievaulx, winner of four general elecons. There is a fabulous statue of him outside our magnificent Railway Staon. He promoted the concept of an Open University which was the world’s first successful distance teaching university, founded on the belief that communicaons technology could bring high quality degree-level learning to people who had not had the opportunity to aend tradional LORD HAROLD WILSON (1916 – 1995) campus universies. In foreground James Mason was a great English actor of Brish and American Films. Gorden Kaye – René from ‘Allo Allo’, who sadly, recently passed away. He aended Moldgreen Primary school. Sally Wainwright – writer of Happy Valley which was filmed in and around Huddersfield. JOHN SMITH’S STADIUM - Huddersfield is literally the home of Rugby League – the town invented the sport in 1895 . The John Smith’s Stadium is now home to the Huddersfield Giants Rugby team and Huddersfield Town FC who are currently in the Premier League (and are actually playing really well). In 1926 Huddersfield Town became the first English team to win 3 successive league tles; a record which has been matched but never beaten. There is an Odeon mulplex cinema near the John Smith Stadium. LAWRENCE BATLEY THEATRE - only five minutes away from the University and is situated in the busy town centre. The theatre presents a variety of shows including plays, stand-up comedy, small music gigs and poetry nights. Every year, Huddersfield plays host to the world’s largest contemporary music fesval. Huddersfield Choral Society is world famous. The society was founded in 1836 and has gone on to be internaonally famous, known as the UK’s best choral society, certainly something to sing about! HUDDERSFIELD COAT OF ARMS ‘GOD HELPS THE DILIGENT’ 3 In 1941 Mrs A L Barre made a generous gi to the Church, making it possible for the fing of a reredos, together with sanctuary panelling and a new pulpit. The reredos was made to the design of Sir Charles A Nicholson by Messrs. E Bowman and Sons of Stamford, the actual carving being done by woodcarvers from Oberammergan who had come to England as refugees during the war. The Reredos of the High Altar DESCRIPTION OF THE DESIGN OF THE REREDOS: “As our parish is dedicated as ‘Christ Church’ Moldgreen, the central figure is our Lord as King – Risen, Ascended; His right hand is raised in blessing and His le hand is holding an Orb which signifies His Lordship over the whole earth. From le to right are two ancestors – King David, His ancestor and the Blessed Virgin Mary, his mother, S. John the Bapst, the forerunner of the Gospel and S. Luke, one of the narrators of the Gospel. The lower panels represent scenes to illustrate the Apostles’ Creed. From le to right they are: the Annunciaon; the Holy Navity; the descent to Hades; and the Resurrecon – this last being Illustrated by the central figure of our Lord on the Cross, aended by His Mother and S. John the beloved disciple.” The Parish of Christ Church Moldgreen is part of the Deanery of Almondbury. It is an urban parish that is situated about one and a half miles outside of Huddersfield town centre on the main Huddersfield to Wakefield Road, which dissects the parish. The social context is that of a mul-racial community, with a high proporon of students living in rented accommodaon (Huddersfield University is 10 minutes’ walk away). Housing is mainly Victorian terraced properes although there has been in the last 30 years a housing estate of semi-detached and detached properes and more recently new apartment blocks being built. Recreaonal facilies within the parish are mainly public houses, a park and a children’s play area. Other amenies include one nursing home, a doctor’s sur- Christ Church & Vicarage gery, a school, a denst, a veterinary pracce and a number of shops and businesses. In February 2017 a Lifeways supported living complex opened on Broad Lane, at the boom of Brook Street. The John Smith’s Stadium – situated at the end of stadium way, the boundary between Moldgreen and Rawthorpe Parishes, is a vital part of the recreaonal life of not only the parish, but also the wider Huddersfield area. 4 The Church was built in 1863. However, today what you see on the outside is completely different to the inside. In the late 1980s the whole of the inside of the church was extensively re-modernised to create one mul-purpose building. The chancel was blocked-off to create two large rooms and a kitchen. The main body of the church was reordered. The pews were replaced with chairs and a prayer chapel created. As the dais is portable this means that the direcon of the congregaon can be flexible either east or north facing. In recent years new altar tables were gied and a new stained glass window in the prayer chapel was commissioned. Body of the Church The stained glass windows were retained in the upper room along with the ornate ceiling thus making a reflecve room for small gatherings. Off this room, where the organ lo was situated is a small area which is used by the young people. We are not currently using the upper room as there is no disabled access. Upper Room Lower Room There is no graveyard aached to the church but there is a small memorial garden within the grounds where ashes can be interred and plaques fixed to the copingstones. 5 Prayer Chapel All our Sunday morning services start at 11.00 am. On the first Sunday of the month we meet for All Age Worship. On the second and fourth Sunday mornings we meet for Holy Communion, with the young people going into Sunday School for fun based learning, and returning to join us at the Peace. On the third Sunday we meet for a Morning Praise service. Whenever there is a fih Sunday in the month a joint service is held with St James’, Rawthorpe (alternang from one parish to the other). On Wednesday morning we hold a Holy Communion service at 9.30 am. Our style of worship is evangelical. We use a mix of modern worship songs together with more tradional hymns. We have a small music group comprising of guitar, flute and drums, with singers. We also have a member of the congregaon who plays the piano/keyboard and she is willing to play when asked. The congregaon expect the Clergy to be robed for Communion services, but other services are less formal. Our Easter and Christmas services are always well aended, with people coming along who do not aend Church on a regular basis. Chrisngle Service – December 2016 During the past year we have had one Wedding, one Bapsm, one Thanksgiving service and six Funerals in church. There have also been six Funerals taken by clergy not in church. We have had one youngster confirmed. 6 There are 40 people on the Electoral roll. Approximately half of these live outside the parish. Over the last year our average aendance has been 34 adults and 7 children (under 16). We are very low in ethnic minority, 3 regularly aending. We consider ourselves to be a warm and welcoming congregaon, which is made up of mostly mid- dle-aged and elderly people, together with 4 regularly aending young families. OTHER CLERGY AND MINISTRIES Lay Pastoral Ministers We have one Lay Pastoral Minister; Mrs Gillian Davison. Other Ministries We have a number of people in the congregaon involved in other ministries: Bible reading, administering the Chalice, serving refreshments aer the service, sidespersons, verger, intercessions and prayer ministry aer the service. Housegroup We have one Housegroup who meet regularly on a fortnightly basis with an aendance of approximately 7 members. YOUNG PEOPLE’S GROUPS The young people have fun based teaching in Sunday School on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month. They are split into three age groups, under 6, 6-9 and 10+ each with their own adult leader.