Blubberhouses will host its annual Christmas Tree Festival this weekend at St Andrew’s Church.

The event is free to attend from 11am to 4pm both days this weekend.

This year, trees have been decorated by Crafters, Fewston Bellringers, The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals, Friends of Blubberhouses Church and Farnley Estate Young Farmers. 

Hot drinks, mulled wine and mince pies will be available to add to the festive atmosphere.

Read more:

• Christmas Events: diary of festivities in the Harrogate district
• Eat, drink and be merry: the best Christmas food & drink from local independents

Pat Anderson, who organises the event, praised the Young Farmers’ effort.

She said:

“Many local young people enjoy the thriving activities of the Young Farmers – they are an essential part of the local community”.

The Young Farmers’ tree

A church in Bilton is holding an event tomorrow to remember those who have died over the last 18 months.

The gathering of lament and remembering, which is open to everyone, will be held at St John’s Church on Bilton Lane.

It will commemorate those who have lost their lives to covid and anyone else who has died since the pandemic began. It will take place two days before All Souls Day, the annual Christian day for remembering the dead.

The 45-minute event starts at 3.30pm and will include music, hymns and reflection. There will also be the opportunity to light candles.

Pre-pandemic, the church held two memorial services each year primarily for families it had taken funeral services for.

Rev Simon Dowson, rector of St John’s and St Luke’s in Bilton, said:

“The last 18 months have been a very challenging time for our community in all sorts of ways, and grief and sadness have been emotions that many of us have been experiencing.

“Our gathering ‘A time to lament and remember’ offers people an opportunity to come together in a sacred space to acknowledge that grief and sadness and hopefully be helped in their journey of bereavement.”

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Harrogate Male Voice Choir will resume face-to-face practice tomorrow night for the first time since March last year.

The choir began in October 1969 but members were forced to practice over Zoom during the pandemic.

It will meet at 7.30pm every Tuesday at Woodlands Methodist Church in Harrogate.

Lawrie Coulthard, who has sung in the choir for several years, said Zoom hadn’t been the same.

“You can’t sing all at once. It’s not conducive to group singing”

The choir, which had about 50 regulars pre-pandemic, will welcome a new musical director, Richard Kay.

Covid precautions include ensuring all singers are doubled jabbed.

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Mr Coulthard said he’s looking forward to meeting his friends face-to-face after a long absence. He said the first hymn sung is likely to be Softly and Tenderly.

He added:

“We’re absolutely excited. We’re all going to be a bit rusty but it will be fantastic.

“It’s not just singing, it’s a social event too. It’s a fellowship.”

If you are interested in joining the choir, contact Lawrie Coulthard on 07905515492 or lawriecoulthard@hotmail.co.uk

One of the Harrogate district’s finest churches is to open to visitors and local residents this week after undergoing a £500,000 restoration.

St Wilfrid’s, on Coltsgate Hill in Ripon, will open from 10.30am to 4pm on Friday for the first in a series of four Heritage Open Days,.

The national programme sees historic places invite people to visit free of charge. The church, which opened in April 1863, is one of this year’s main attractions as it is considered to be one of England’s finest Catholic places of worship.

The grade II* listed building was designed in French Gothic style by the prolific York architect Joseph Hansom, inventor of the Hansom cab.

Features include stained and coloured glass, an imposing altar screen or reredos designed by Edward Pugin depicting scenes from the life of St Wilfrid and other fine statuary, carvings and artwork.

Windows in the tower were replaced as part of the refurbishment.

These include ornate medallions of saints above the nave arches by Salviati of Venice, and the side altar of Our Lady of Fountains, brought  from the private chapel of the Marquess of Ripon  at Studley Royal after his death.

The marquess converted to Catholicism in 1874 – six years before becoming viceroy and governor general of India.

Born at 10 Downing Street, when his father Viscount Goderich was briefly Prime Minister, he was a towering parliamentary figure in Victorian Britain and a major donor to St Wilfrid’s and to Ripon, where he was elected as the city’s mayor in 1897.

An addition to the 158-year history of St Wilfrid’s is a dramatic holograph-style set of stations of the cross, commissioned by a benefactor to the restoration appeal.

Many local people and organisations donated to the fundraising programme headed by parishioner Barrie Price.

This, combined with a Heritage Fund lottery grant, provided the money needed for the restoration and will fund further improvements, among them better access to the church.

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In addition to Friday’s open day, three more open days will be held on Saturday and Sunday and on Thursday next week.

Entry is via the front door steps or ramp on Coltsgate Hill and parking spaces are available in the church car park, accessed via Trinity Lane.

Plans have been submitted to convert a hall that is part of a Grade II listed church in Harrogate into townhouses.

Inglehurst Property has applied to Harrogate Borough Council to create two three-bedroom properties for older people in the hall of Trinity Methodist Church, on Trinity Road, near the Stray.

Under the proposals, a new slate roof would be added to the building as well as an extra floor to accommodate the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Planning documents say the methodist church closed the hall several years ago to raise funds to repair the adjoining church, which opened in 1879.

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The hall was sold to the First Church of Christ Scientist, which used it for services until membership dwindled.

Last year, Harrogate’s Muslim community identified the hall as a site for the district’s first mosque but this does not appear to have progressed.

Ripon Cathedral and two churches in Knaresborough will be holding services this evening to allow congregations to offer their condolences.

Ripon Cathedral is holding a service of evensong at 6pm today to mark the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

The cathedral told its congregation, via Facebook, that the service will include a reflection from the Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Dobson DL. The service will be sung by the lay clerks of the cathedral’s choir.

Prince Philip died last Friday, aged 99

The Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Jo Ropner, will be attending.

The tenor bell will toll ahead of the service, half-muffled.

Guests will require a ticket, which can be booked here, and the cathedral asks everyone to be seated for 5.45pm.

Prince Philip died at Windsor Castle last Friday, aged 99.

During the period of mourning the cathedral has been open to visitors. People have been invited take a candle and a prayer card and sit in the cathedral to reflect.

Read more:

• Prayers were said for Prince Philip at Ripon Cathedral last weekend.
• Image Gallery: Prince Philip in the Harrogate district.

In Knaresborough, the Parish Church of St John the Baptist and the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Goldsborough will be open for prayer vigils.

Due to covid restrictions the churches have said they will not be offering books of condolence.

All of this evening’s services will be held in line with coronavirus restrictions.

St Mary’s Church in Masham has begun the process of extending its graveyard to ensure it has the capacity to cope with burials for another 50 years.

The church is negotiating with the Swinton estate to buy 0.7 acres of land next to the current graveyard.

It is also seeking permission to proceed from the Church of England and Harrogate Borough Council.

The extra land, if bought, would accommodate another 813 graves.

Jim Hunter, church warden at St Mary’s, told the Stray Ferret the current graveyard was not expected to be full for another two or three years but the process of buying the land and seeking the relevant permissions was lengthy, which was why the matter was being dealt with now.

Anybody who lives in Masham can be buried in the graveyard when they die. The painter Julius Ibbotson is amongst those buried on the site.

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A church in Knaresborough has raised more than a £1,000 for African families after taking a different approach to Christmas this year.

Members of the Gracious Street Methodist Church usually send 20 to 30 cards to each other at Christmas.

But this year, instead of sending cards they made donations to the Methodist relief and development charity All We Can, which supports vulnerable communities.

The congregation raised £1,190, which will allow the charity to buy three wheelchairs for children in Ethiopia, four bikes for children in Uganda for their school journeys and five goats for families in Zimbabwe.

One member of the congregation, Brian Hoare, designed this card, which was was signed by and sent to everyone who donated.

So instead of receiving numerous cards from each other, each congregation member just received the one. The initiative reduced waste and raised money for a good cause.

Sharon Wright, the local All We Can representative and member of the congregation, said:

“We wanted to keep the congregation in touch with each other and help others too.

“This year we’ve really focussed on encouraging our congregation to reach out to others and this card is another way of doing that.”

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The church has adapted this year in response to covid. It also introduced a ‘coffee at 11’ scheme to encourage everyone to sit down and ring somebody for a chat.

Sharon said:

“The pandemic has highlighted the desire for community. People don’t want to be alone.”

Christmas services are to be staged outdoors in Masham in response to covid restrictions.

Canon David Cleeves, who oversees the Masham group of parishes, wanted his parishioners to experience the “light and hope” of Christmas.

But with singing banned in churches, except for socially-distanced choirs, it would have been impossible for worshippers to perform traditional carols.

So Canon Cleeves asked Masham Parish Council for permission to stage two services outdoors, and his request was granted this week.

The Market Place will host a carol service at 4pm on December 20 as well as a short service aimed at children and families at 4pm on Christmas Eve.

Market Square in Masham

Outdoor services are also planned in North Stainley, West Tanfield and Healey.

Advent services, which are some of the busiest of the year, have been affected by covid restrictions.

Canon Cleeves said rural communities had a strong community feel. He added:

“I knew people would miss the church services and carol singing so the solution was to organise an outdoor event.

“It has been a very difficult and sad year and I hope this offers people a chance to celebrate Christmas.”

During the pandemic the group of churches offered services via zoom and telephone conferencing. It has also been ringing some of its isolated members for a chat.

Read more:

• Masham could see the return on its Artisan Market. 
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Similar outdoor services were held on Remembrance Sunday. Masham Parish Council praised the church for its organisation and was quick to approve its petition for Christmas services.

Parish councillor Ian Johnson, said:

“It was a resounding yes. It’ll be nice to have something to look forward to. They had a well thought-out risk assessment and after how well the services went for Remembrance Day it was an instant yes.”

To find the dates and times of the services, click here.

A church in Blubberhouses will be decorated with Christmas trees this weekend as part of a festival to lift spirits after a tough year.

Mulled wine and mince pies will also be available to help visitors enjoy the experience at St Andrew’s Church, which is just off the A59 and close to Fewston reservoir parking.

Volunteers, parishioners and a local craft group have come together to trim a selection of trees and work on the homemade decorations.

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The event is free to attend. The church will be open for the festival from 11am to 4pm both days this weekend.

Besides the festive trees, there are also takeout refreshments on offer for any walkers in the area this weekend.