St. the , St. James the Great, Emley Flockton

Parish Brochure April 2017 Church Life - St. Michael's

We are a welcoming, vibrant, growing Church with a “not just for Sunday” philosophy.

Running through the centre of church life is a caring thread and a strong commitment to the community. We are active in all kinds of fellowship and across the age spectrum from toddlers to pensioners.

Our regular activities include: Toddler Group, coffee mornings, community lunches, men's breakfast, social events including concerts by local choirs, ceilidhs, bands, flower festivals, beetle drives etc. and youth group.

We also engage in fellowship with a wider audience through a variety of other events often involving food and/or music including a brass band concert, Passover meal and Harvest lunch.

The running of Church services is assisted by lay participation and there is a rota for reading, chalice administration and intercession. A team of Stewards welcomes the congregation into the church every Sunday and performs other duties at services.

We have good working links with the First School in the Parish.

We have close links with the local Methodist Church.

The Church Electoral Roll currently stands at 71.

Information about activities is communicated via the village magazine, Facebook, Twitter, church website and weekly Notice Sheet. Church Life - St. James'

St James’ is a small but enthusiastic church community which is looking to reach out into the community and grow.

We have recently completed the building of the Richard Carter Community Centre within the west end of the church which has transformed the building and brought new groups in from the village and beyond.

Regular activities run by the church include:

• Pre-school and carers group • Coffee mornings • Monthly social events for older residents • Social events including choir and band concerts, Harvest Supper, Winter fayre

The running of Church services is assisted by lay participation and there are rotas for Bible reading, intercessions, chalice administration and refreshments.

We have an excellent relationship with the Church (Controlled) First School which is situated next to the church. The school was rated as "outstanding" in all categories in the SIAMS report in 2016 and has a "good" rating from Ofsted. Regular collective worship is held either in church or in school and is well attended by parents, carers and members of the church congregation. The school roll is approximately 80.

The Church Electoral Roll currently stands at 20. Church Services

Currently our main Sunday services are at 9.15 or 10.45 on alternate Sundays.

Whilst St James’ has a Common Worship sung Eucharist each Sunday, St Michael’s has traditional communion services at the 9.15 service but the 10.45 is more family oriented. On the first Sunday of the month a non- eucharistic service with activities for children is held, and on the third Sunday a family communion. When a month has five Sundays the congregations of St Michael’s and St James’ have a joint service held at the churches alternately.

Midweek services of Holy Communion are held at St Michael’s on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings and are attended by members of both congregations.

Both churches use a variety of traditional and modern music, the main hymnbooks being Hymns Old & New. TNIV are available in the seats.

Fellowship with refreshments follows all main services.

Messy Church has recently started in each parish and is proving very popular with families in both villages.

St Michaels’ has a projector screen that is used in the family services and at other key events. The PCC at St James’ is hoping to have similar equipment in place later this year. The Future

Our Vision

To meet regularly for worship and to maintain a place for that purpose in each village

To continue witnessing to the Love of God with a warm and welcoming atmosphere within our churches and extending out into our local communities

To maintain the relationships with the First schools in the parishes and develop new links with local middle and secondary schools

To continue developing and nurturing youth and children’s work through Messy Church and the pre-school groups

To extend contact links with the sick and the housebound by expanding our programme of visiting

To nurture and develop our prayer life

To continue with our Plan for Growth Who can lead us there?

Trusting in God’s help we are looking for a spiritual leader in a Part Time (0.5) appointment, who cares about our Parishes as much as we do and is determined to see them flourish. He or she should be enthusiastic and dynamic but down to earth and able to motivate and encourage our church communities to grow in faith and numbers. Worship and prayer with effective preaching We seek a priest and teaching of the Word of God for the 21st who is able to Century encourage and Participation in, and leadership of worship facilitate: Our Plan for Growth

Involvement of children and young people through existing and new initiatives

Strengthening of ecumenical links

Evangelistic outreach whilst embracing the needs of our existing congregations

Reaching out into the villages to bring in the next generation of Christians to our parishes Be able to engage with people of all ages

Support our aspirations around growth and continued development We would like

Give support to our church family our priest to: recognising, using and developing their talents

Empathise, encourage and support people at different stages on their journey of faith

Lead and encourage our authorised Pastoral Care teams

Provide strong, diplomatic and spiritual leadership

Delegate with confidence

Have clear and engaging communication skills Buildings and Land

St Michael the Archangel, Emley The Grade I listed church at Emley dates from the beginning of the 14th Century when stone from a demolished Norman church was reused to build a church in the Perpendicular fashion. The stone slated roof is supported by queen post trusses with tiers of curved wind bracing. A stout 15th Century west tower affords fine views over the former coal mining village and nearby hillsides dominated by the television transmission mast at Emley Moor.

In the 17th Century small chapels, galleries and box pews were added and large windows inserted into the north and south walls together with a panelled wooden ceiling over the chancel. Between 1874 and 1880 the church interior, which had fallen into disrepair, was again re-ordered whereby the galleries were removed and the box pews replaced by benches. The walls were stripped of decayed plaster and the rough stone strap pointed. A chancel screen, choir stalls, organ and coal-fired heating system were introduced.

By the 1990’s after more than a century, the interior was “tired”, unwelcoming, cold and damp and cluttered with poor quality furnishings and fittings. The time was ripe for change and the arrival of a new priest- in-charge and a retired architect, first as treasurer and then as churchwarden, was the catalyst for a process that after ten years would result in a complete reordering of the interior. The PCC resolved to create facilities appropriate to a church in the 21st Century that would not only augment and assist their central purpose of worship and mission, but would be sufficiently flexible to provide a valuable resource for the whole village. European oak was to be used for all joinery and a level yorkstone floor with embedded warm water under-floor heating.

On entering the church from the porch the whole ancient structure is now revealed. Shallow steps lead down to a gathering place separated from the main part of the nave by the relocated choir screen. In the ground floor of the tower behind a remodelled oak screen are a parish office/vestry, a unisex disabled persons’ toilet and a staircase leading to a new bell ringing platform which doubles as a children’s area during services. In the end of the north aisle is an oak panelled counter concealing the kitchen and cleaning facilities, the cupboards containing 150 of everything in neat storage boxes.

In 2016 after ten years of respectful use, the quality finishings look almost as good today as when they were handed over. How was it generally received? As one critical farmer remarked at an open day “Tha should 'ave dun it long ago”.

The church now seats approximately 150 people (seats), with additional seating for a further 50.

Part of the churchyard is open but the area closest to the church is ‘closed’ and maintained by the local authority. Buildings and Land

St. James the Great, Flockton There have been three Anglican chapels or churches in Flockton dedicated to St James. The first was the Chapel built by Richard Carter in 1697 and dedicated to St James the . This was replaced by a larger Chapel in 1762. Both these buildings have completely disappeared, but were across the road from the present Church in the neighbourhood of the Old Vicarage.

The existing Church was completed in 1869 and was built largely thanks to the efforts of Rev Robert Jackson French, who was incumbent from 1859 when the parish was created from its Mother Church of St Michael and All , Thornhill. The church was consecrated by the of Ripon on 9 September 1869 and dedicated to St James the Great.

The church boasts a number of fine stained glass windows including ones by Burne-Jones, Madox Brown and Kempe as well as a pulpit with panels depicting the anunciation painted in the pre-Raphaelite style by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope.

Entry is by the South Porch. The Heavy Oak Exterior Doors originally hung where the interior glass panelled doors are now situated and were moved in 1994. The entrance now leads into the Community Centre straight ahead and the body of the church to the right, with stairs to the mezzanine floor on the left. For many years, the congregation longed for kitchen and toilet facilities in the church building. In 2014 a new group, Flockton Forward, was established as a sub-committee of the PCC to investigate, plan and obtain financing for the development of the West end of the Parish Church. An architect was appointed and with the generous backing of Richard Carter's Charity, which is the patron of the living, and other grant making organisations, plans were drawn up for a community space to be built inside the west end of the church complete with a fully equipped kitchen, two toilets and a mezzanine floor above. This was done sympathetically with the existing building, making features of the pillars and stained glass windows.

In 2016 the Richard Carter Community Centre was opened by the Bishop of . It is heated independently of the worship area of the church and is separated from the main body of the church by a folding screen and doors enabling the worship space to be extended for larger services such as school collective worship, Christingle and some weddings and funerals.

It is now used by a number of church and community groups including the Denby Dale Centre, a local charity which aims to reduce isolation by running activities that bring people together, Pilates classes, Youth Group and a monthly lunch club for the over 60s and has also hosted birthday parties both for children and adults. The enthusiastic PCCs meet at Parish least 4 times per year preceded by a Standing Committee meeting and have Administration a strong focus on church growth.

Both Parishes paid their Parish Share Finance assessments in full in 2016. There have been a number of successful Stewardship campaigns and voluntary contributions have risen substantially as a result.

The PCCs have managed to maintain their policy of making mission donations including local, national and International charities.

The Stewardship teams and Treasurers ensure that all donations are Gift Aided, wherever possible, as well as taking advantage of the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme to maximise the benefit of tax relief. Locality

Emley and Flockton are just a mile and a half apart and are semi-rural former mining villages situated approximately 8 miles from Huddersfield, and Barnsley. With the motorway network only 10 minutes away, Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield are all within commuting distance of the villages. The East Coast railway can be accessed at Wakefield for trains to and Edinburgh and there are stations at and Huddersfield running TransPennine Express trains to Manchester and Liverpool in the west and York, Scarborough and Newcastle in the east.

Local bus routes connect the villages with Huddersfield and Wakefield.

The parishes are served by a modern medical centre in the nearby village of Middlestown about 4 miles away with satellite surgeries in both villages and in Skelmanthorpe. There are hospitals in Wakefield, Huddersfield, Halifax, Barnsley and Dewsbury which are all used by residents of the villages.

Primary employers in the area include: Brown Gears, Cummins Engineering, Thornton and Ross, Wesco Aircraft Europe, Mamas and Papas, Ellis Furniture. In recent years, a wide range of new companies have been attracted to the area, with a growing high technology, distribution and service sector element. Emley Flockton Post Office and General Store General Store White Horse Inn Sun Inn Working Men’s Club George & Dragon (15th Century inn) Cricket & Football Clubs Working Men’s Club Millennium Green Indian Restaurant Hairdresser Cricket Club Beauty Salon Football Club Farm Shop Fish & chip shop Brownies and Scouts Motorcycle shop Brass Band Bon Marche Distribution Centre Huddersfield Large range of high street stores and independent boutiques Open Market every Tuesday and Saturday. Large sports centre completed in 2016 Large range of restaurants and pubs.

Wakefield Cathedral Hepworth Gallery Shopping centres Swimming Pool Large range of restaurants and pubs The Park, an international centre for modern and contemporary art, is just 4 miles away. It is only a short drive from Holmfirth the centre of “Summer Wine Country” which is itself only a stone’s throw from the beautiful hills and dales of the Peak District. www.stmichaelsemley.org www.flocktonchurch.org Thanks

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