Message from Revd Liz Hassall What are we doing to keep you safe? Everywhere you go now, there seem to be signs telling you what the owners or managers of shops or public areas are doing to keep you safe. Our buildings are a heritage for the community as well as a place for Christians to express themselves in worship. We love to be able to throw open the doors of our church buildings and offer a welcome to anyone passing. We are limited in how often we can do that at the moment, but please do come and spend time in the buildings when they are open. We are following the guidelines in order to make these sacred spaces a little safer. We offer hand sanitiser, we strongly encourage social distancing, and we allow time between opening periods for either thorough cleaning of surfaces or a 72 hour quarantine of the building. We ask everyone who can to wear masks and we request details of worshippers for the Test and Trace system. On top of all this, regular review of risk assessments helps us to anticipate problems and find solutions. I hope these measures make you feel physically safe and able to join us. There is more to safety, though, than this. As a Christian leader, my concern is also for the spiritual safety of our community. Rather than just focussing on avoiding the danger of illness, I also pray for the health of our souls. To be a Christian is to look ahead to the promise of eternal life, knowing that how we think and act now has an impact far beyond our earthly lives. Knowing that people are under particular stress at the moment, we are praying for all of you in our parishes. If you have a specific prayer request, for you or someone else, get in touch in confidence. Harvest Festivals – with a difference Harvest is such an important time of year for our farmers and we usually make the most of gathering and celebrating harvest festival in our churches and with copious quantities of feasting. This year, as feasting and even the communal singing of We Plough the Fields isn’t possible, our harvest festival will be celebrated in our online service on October 11th. Please see page 8 in the magazine for further details of how we are marking this and our intention of recognising the work that the whole farming community have done as keyworkers this year. 2 New team members I am delighted to welcome two new people to our church leadership team. The first person is changing role, rather than joining us for the first time. Liz Crawshaw has been a member of our congregations for many years but has now begun training to be a Reader (previously known as a lay-reader) so will be doing more up-front in our services. Our second new addition is a completely new post to work with our children and youth. We share this post with three other groups of churches over towards Helmsley and we are very grateful for the private funding which makes this post possible. Lucy has written a short piece to introduce herself (which you will find on page 5) and I hope many of you will meet her in the coming months. I am delighted to welcome Liz and Lucy to their new roles. Remembrance See next month for details of our Remembrance services. They will take place outside, so be prepared to wrap up warm! Financial Support of our churches Thank you to all of you who have continued to give to the work of the Church during lockdown. We have, however, lost a huge proportion of our income this year due to cancelled events and services. If you are able to support the Church financially in any way, please contact your church treasurer (or ask Revd Liz to put you in touch with them). Annual Church Meetings Our annual meetings have been postponed from the spring this year. Current plans are as follows: Husthwaite – 2pm on Monday 2nd November Coxwold – after the service on 18th October Crayke – Monday 19th October on Zoom Brandsby – TBC 3 Current state of church buildings access Current opening periods are as follows: Brandsby - closed except for scheduled worship. Please contact wardens for access. Carlton Husthwaite - TBC Coxwold - open daily Crayke - Sunday 1pm - 4pm; Thursday 9am to 1pm Husthwaite - Sunday 9am - 1pm; Wednesday 2pm to 6pm Wass - currently closed Yearsley - opening soon – contact John Foster for details Most of our church communities do not have the capacity to clean the church daily so the alternative is to have a window of 72 hours between opening periods. Please be patient as we work within government rules and church guidelines. Opening times will be posted on noticeboards outside churches, on bylandchurches.net and on A Church Near You. Please contact your churchwarden (contact details on page 15). Local charities offering financial help If you live in the parish of Crayke or Coxwold (including Wass, Oulston and Thornton Hill), there are local charities which have funds available to help those in need. Crayke Parochial Charities and the Fauconberg Trust each receive the rental income from certain fields that have been left in trust. The income can be used for any resident of those parishes. Please contact Revd Liz Hassall on 01347 822809 or 07388 510894 Any events which may be listed in the October edition of the Village Link are only provisional, as the Coronavirus situation changes on a daily basis. You are advised to seek up to date advice before you try to attend any event. Important message to all contributors: The deadline for articles for November’s Village Link is the 15th October Please send them to [email protected] Thank You. To advertise in the Village Link email: [email protected] 4 Youth and Children’s Worker My name is Lucy Willshaw and I have just started working as Youth and Children’s Worker for Helmsley Parish, Kirkdale and Ampleforth Benefices and the Byland Group of Churches. It was lovely to be part of the open air service at Coxwold on Sunday as I was commissioned in the post, and I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself to those of you who couldn’t be there. I have lived in Helmsley, with my husband Mark, for over 19 years. We have always been actively involved with All Saints’ Parish Church in various ways, most notably Mark having served 13 years as church warden, and me being licensed as a Reader in 2011. We have two children aged 13 and 8 who go to Ryedale Secondary and Helmsley Primary Schools. I was a primary school teacher for 15 years and, more recently, have worked for a small, Christian, educational project called ‘Lift the Lid’ in Malton. All of this, I feel, gives me relevant experience to tackle this new role with confidence. I recognise that it is not going to be easy beginning this job as we face restrictions on our interaction with others. However, we have seen how imaginative and creative approaches to church and other activities have been embraced over lockdown, so anything is possible! I am really excited at the opportunities (and challenges!) ahead and look forward to working alongside you in furthering ministry with young people and families in the Byland Group of Churches. Please feel free to get in touch on [email protected] 5 This year, many people have become aware – some for the first time – of the vital role UK farms play in feeding our nation, while the food shortages we experienced in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown reminded us how fragile the supply chain can be. Unable to go out, many people have been cooking and baking more than in the past, and some are growing fruit and vegetables at home for the first time. All of this has resulted in a more conscious appreciation of the food we eat and where it has come from. As churches and communities across the UK prepare to celebrate harvest festivals, let’s embrace this opportunity to thank the farmers across the UK who grow our food for us. This has been a difficult year for many in the farming community which is negotiating a ‘triple threat’ of challenges. The weather is, once again, proving to be problematic for many farmers; autumn and winter flooding meant some crops sown in the autumn were washed away, and the planting of spring crops was delayed. This was followed by a very dry spring which is having lasting effects: crops have been slower to grow, and some farmers are already having to feed their animals as there is insufficient grazing available. The shape of new agricultural policy and trade deals is beginning to emerge as Britain renegotiates many of its international relationships following its exit from the European Union, but there will be a significant lack of clarity around the details of this for some time to come. The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for the farming community. As we know, the process of harvesting many of our crops is hugely reliant on migrant labour, with people coming to the UK for a season, living and working on local farms before returning home. Much of this travel has been curtailed by restrictions in response to COVID-19. Other farms 6 have sought to increase their income by diversifying into farm shops, holiday lets and other activities; again, COVID-19 restrictions have made much of this activity impossible over the last few months.