Friday 24 June 2011

Brolly Folly 18-19 June

Since our post last week highlighting our fundraising campaign we have held our 1960s themed ‘Brolly Folly’ much to the bemusement of locals and tourists alike.
Happy Birthday Sweet 16



 As mentioned in lasts weeks ‘Haworth Church Needs You’ post, the idea behind this event was to match the decorated umbrella with the corresponding 60s songs. After some explanation and some confused expressions (including a gentleman who thought it was like a flower festival, only with umbrellas) our visitors really took to it. In conjunction with the brollies we also held a Mouse Hunt for the children. This simply involved a number of mice being hidden around the building for the children to go and find. The mice were alarmingly realistic, as proven by the fact that Oscar (A village car who occasionally spirits himself into the church) had ‘caught’ one and was looking very pleased with himself holding it between his paws.
No Milk Today
1960s weekend never quite gets the attendance numbers that 40s weekend gets, and with most of the events being held in the park at the other end of the village, we didn’t quite reach the numbers of our Spring Fayre. We did, however, have a slow and steady stream of people throughout the two days which gave us a total of £300 towards our restoration fund and to coin a phrase-it all helps.


Yellow Submarine

Continuing our concert programme this summer, tomorrow (Saturday 25th June) sees us play host to ‘Chordiality’ who are a 40 piece choir from Bradford. The concert starts at 7.30 and tickets are just £5, which can be bought on the door. The first half will be spiritual/classical music including Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Ave verum Corpus by Mozart. The second section will be more popular tunes including ‘Hallelujah’ and the Anthem from Chess. Next month we are also lucky enough to be having a concert by the award winning Steeton Male Voice Choir, this event is on the 30th July and tickets will be £7.
If you would like any more information about the events we hold, or our fundraising campaign then please check out our website www.haworthchurch.co.uk or email us at haworthchurch@gmail.com


Friday 17 June 2011

Haworth Church Needs You!

The term ‘church fundraising’ tends to conjure up images of older people holding coffee mornings, fayres full of aging soft toys and yellowing books and cake sales selling sorry looking sponges. Of course, a lot of these fundraising methods are still used today. However, when you have £60,000 to raise, there needs to be a little bit of ‘outside the box’ thinking.

 For the initial stages of our roof renovations we need about £60,000. As mentioned last week, we are very fortunate in that we have received a grant for an overall amount of £115,000 from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund. This sum needs to be match funded by money raised by St Michaels and its congregation, in order for it to be given towards our restoration fund.

To this end, Haworth Church, it’s congregation and their families have embarked on a fundraising campaign in an attempt to raise the required amount. This campaign has included events such as a highly successful 1940s themed Spring Fayre and collections taken at a concert inspired by the work of the Brontes. Ongoing plans include this weekend’s 1960s themed ‘Brolly Folly’ where umbrellas will be decorated to represent 60s song titles. In order to have a chance at winning, the aim is to match the number from the appropriately decorated umbrella to the song title on the entry sheet. Later in the month, on the 25th, we are very pleased to be hosting a concert by popular Bradford based choir ‘Chordiality’. They will be singing a combination of spiritual music as well as more contemporary pieces. Tickets for this event will be £5 and will be available on the door. Continuing the concert theme we are also hosting a concert from the award winning Steeton Male Voice Choir in July.



'Mike' one of our mascots for Brolly Folly


This is a cuddly evacuee from our 1940s Spring Fayre

 A more traditional fundraising venture that we have used is producing a cookbook. This was a project that could have appeared dated, but with a variety of recipes from around the world and lively illustrations provided by Haworth Primary School, the book has proved very popular with both the local community and our visiting tourists.

 However, we still have a long way to go until our target is met and we are still looking for inspiration for fundraising ideas that will help protect our building for future generations. We don’t want our church to be seen as merely a building to be used on a Sunday morning, only being for the tourists of Haworth or as a place only to be called upon for major life events. Our church aims to be a place to celebrate God, lives, births and marriages and an historic building. It embraces its status as a tourist attraction and its Bronte heritage, as well as still holding an important position within the community. Without this money, the church building won’t be able to be used to its full potential.  This is why we all need to pull together in an effort to raise funds to restore Haworth Church to a usable building for everybody to use.
If you have any questions about this work, or fundraising suggestions for us then please email haworthchurch@gmail.com, or if you would like to make a donation to our restoration fund you can do so via paypal using the ‘Donate’ button on our website www.haworthchurch.co.uk

Friday 10 June 2011

Hello and welcome to St Michael and All Angel’s blog. Our church, of Bronte and Grimshaw fame, has entered the age of 21st century technology with a new website (www.haworthchurch.co.uk) Twitter feed (@haworthchurch) and Facebook (Haworth.church)
 We are hoping to use these new communication tools to bring together our work within the community, our fascinating history and our relationship with God.
 The building of St Michaels has many uses. Firstly it is a place of peace, prayer and worship. It is where a regular congregation attend services and take communions and local people can celebrate their important life events with God.
 Secondly, and equally importantly, it is a place that brings the community together. There are a number of groups that use the church as their base. People from all areas of the community can come together for companionship, prayer and tea and cake.
 Finally, our building is also of great historical and literary significance. There has been a religious settlement on the site in Haworth since 1317 and an Anglican church since the 15th century. Through its long and colourful past the building has been rebuilt and remodelled and its records mention historical events such as the execution of Charles I. It has also been the place of work for some famous incumbents including William Grimshaw and Patrick Bronte.
 Our work of late has been in an effort to restore St Michael and All Angels to its former glory. The church roof is leaking badly and causing terrible damage to the 19th century wall paintings inside. Overall we need about £240,000 to complete the project, which will be the first large scale repairs carried out on the roof since the 19th century. We were recently given a grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage for £115,000 towards the project. The remainder is still to be raised by members of the church through donations and holding fundraising events.
 This blog will provide a weekly update on the happenings in the church, news, reviews of fundraising events and an insight into our history and the people who use our building.