Please come and support this fundraiser.
Tickets are being sold in advance (£7.00) at Heptonstall Post Office, or by calling 07745 790490 or pay on the door (£8.00).
The event not only supports St Thomas Church but through the venue hire the Bowling Club and the village itself.
Bar opens at 8.00pm.
As most residents will be aware, St Thomas’ church possesses a fine ring of 8 bells, which were originally installed in 1912 and were fully refurbished in 2012. They are rung regularly for Sunday service (at least once a month), for practice/training of new ringers (most Tuesday evenings), full peals (once a month) and by visiting ringers from various parts of the country (occasional).
We are always looking for new ringers and currently rely on help from ringers from other churches in the area. As many will be aware, our oldest ringer and tower captain for over 50 years, Colin Ashworth, passed away in October 2013 and we have in recent years also lost two other longstanding members, Nick Helliwell and Geoff Cheetham. To ensure that the bells continue to ring out into the future, we do now need more local people to come forward and join us. Anyone who would like to learn more about bell-ringing and may be interested in becoming a member of our team, please feel free to contact George Campling for further information (details below).
We are also very keen to keep residents informed about our ringing activities and we recognise that people would appreciate advance notice of any prolonged periods of ringing, such as the monthly peals, which last for approx. 3 hours at a time. These are already posted on the weekly notice of church services and activities in the church porch, but in an attempt to reach a wider audience the details are also published on this website.
Ringing planned over the next few months is as follows:
Sunday mornings (10.30-11.30): 1 September, 22 September, 17 November, 1 December
Tuesday practices (19.45-21.00): most Tuesdays (generally not the first Tuesday in the month)
Peals (approx. 3 hours’ continuous ringing):
Friday 20 September 15.00-18.15 approx
Friday 4 October 14.30-17.45 approx
Saturday 19 October 14.30-17.45
Please note that all timings are approximate, owing to the fact that generally ringers are travelling to the church from outside the area. There is however regular liaison with the local Environmental Health Department, to ensure that the overall level of ringing is kept within agreed guidelines.
A further update will be provided in November
Many thanks for your support……and look forward to hearing from you!
George Campling
Ringing Master, St Thomas’ church
01200-429344
The Brutish Multitude are a voluntary group that was formed in early 2018 in the ancient village of Heptonstall West Yorkshire, to research and produce a community play based upon the 1643 English Civil War battle, the Battle of Heptonstall.
The Battle of Heptonstall is a fast moving community play with a cast of sixteen local actors. It tells the story of the 1643 battle of the same name through a family of clothiers, the Cockcrofts as they struggle to keep the Civil War at a distance, to carry on making cloth, surviving without taking one side or another.
Accompanying the narrative there is both period and original music by arranger and composer Katie Chatburn, all performed in the majestic setting of St Thomas the Apostle Church Heptonstall.
The play is written and directed by playwright Michael Crowley and funded by Sky Arts as part of their Art 50 programme. The show is the culmination of a year long process of research, writing, composing and rehearsal and produced by The Brutish Multitude, a company established specifically for the project.
In November 1643 a royalist army travelled the upland road from Halifax through the night and gathered at the river’s edge in Hebden Bridge. In Heptonstall taking up siege positions, were around 750 roundheads led by Colonel Bradshaw. Bradshaw and the roundheads knew the local terrain. As the royalist soldiers and cavalry began the 500ft climb to Heptonstall at dawn, they were met with a cascade of falling rocks followed by the roundheads. Men were trampled underfoot by panic stricken horses running back down the buttress. The army beat their retreat over the narrow bridge some plunging into the river to escape, only to be swept away by a raging torrent following heavy rain.
There will be a public lecture on the project in Hebden Bridge at 7:00pm on 4 February 2019, in Hebden Bridge Town Hall.
Secretary of Hebden Bridge Historical Society Murray Seccombe will set the scene with an introduction: Dangerous times: life in Halifax parish before the Civil War, followed by historian John Spencer who will talk about the local battle in detail. After the break playwright Michael Crowley will talk about the English Civil War’s place in drama and the forthcoming community play The Battle of Heptonstall which will be produced in St Thomas the Apostle Church Heptonstall at the end of February. A few scenes from the play will be performed as part of the lecture.
There will be bar available and time for a Q and A.
More details and opportunity to purchase tickets are available on the Eventbrite website.
The play itself will be performed at 7:30pm on 28 February 2019 in St Thomas the Apostle Church in Heptonstall – (please use bowling club car park – Heptonstall HX7 7LJ), with additional performances at the same venue each night on Friday 1 March and Saturday 2 March 2019.
More detail and tickets for these performances of the play on the Eventbrite website.
A final performance is planned for 7:30pm on 9 March 2019, this time at Halifax Minster, Causeway, Halifax HX1 1QL. Once again, more details and tickets are available on the Eventbrite website.
Additional information about The Brutish Multitude and the development of the play, including a short film, can be found on the groups own website.
A celebration of all that is wonderful about our church.
Come and enjoy our newly refurbished church!
We would love to invite you to our celebration supper (£12.50 pp). There will be table groaning with good food, great company and a little wine to smooth things along.
Book a full table for you and your friends and help to raise a little money to support the ongoing maintenance of our church building.
To reserve a place contact Graham or Margaret Kidd on 845810.
Saturday, 30th September 7pm.£12.50 per head. Fabulous full buffet service, and a glass of wine.
The nights may be drawing in but there’s plenty of fun events happening in the next couple of months, all listed on our Events page. A few highlights include:
A beer and cider festival at the White Lion on the weekend of 2 – 4 October, with an apple pie competition on the Sunday.
A service of blessing for pets at St Thomas’ Church on Sunday 4 October, followed by a peal of bells.
A concert at St Thomas’ by Hebden Bridge Brass Band on Saturday 17 October.
And then the village gears up for a busy season of Hallowe’en events at the Bowling Club, Christmas fairs at both church and chapel, and much more.
The Heptonstall School PFA is holding a Bring and Buy sale at St Thomas’ Church on Friday, February 6, from 3.30pm to 6pm.
Headteacher David Perrin said: “The Church have kindly offered us the use of their space and will be running a cafe with refreshments and cakes for sale. Please have a rummage and see what items you have at home that may be suitable.
“Good quality used clothing, books and toys would be appreciated. We will also be selling school uniform, so if you have any your child has grown out of please bring it along. Any unsold items will be donated to a local charity shop.
“Arrangements for where and when to bring in donations will be available later.”
The next edition of BBC 1’s Countryfile will feature Heptonstall at 7pm on Sunday, February 1.
Joe Crowley tells the tale of the Cragg Vale Coiners, an outlaw band responsible for one of the biggest counterfeiting crimes in history.
The King of the Coiners, David Hartley, is buried in St Thomas’ graveyard and shots of the church feature in the programme.
Two choirs will sing music including Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor at a concert at St Thomas Church, Heptonstall during the annual Fair Trade weekend.
The Halifax Chamber Choir and Leeds Guild of Singers will also perform music by Ravel, Mauersberger and others on Saturday, November 15 at 8pm. Tickets will cost £8 on the door (concessions £6).
The Fair Trade event will open on Friday, November 14, and run until Sunday, November 16. A wide variety of Traidcraft goods will be available including toys, food, Christmas cards and much more.
St Thomas’ Church has a new Sunday School run by retired teacher Val Perry, who organised a successful crib service before Christmas.
Children aged four to 11 are welcome to attend the class, which starts at 9.15am. They hear stories and take part in activities at the back of the church, before joining the rest of the congregation for a blessing at the end of the service.
This week, the children heard about Jesus healing the lepers, then drew pictures about being thankful for our blessings.
The class will be held every Sunday except the first Sunday in each month, which is an all-age service suitable for children.
If anyone would like to get involved in helping to run the class, they are welcome to get in touch with vicar Howard Pask.
Everyone is welcome to join in carol singing around the village this evening, starting at St Thomas’ Church at 6.30pm. This event usually finishes at about 8pm at the vicarage, but singers are welcome to drop in or out as they like.
This weekend is a busy one in Heptonstall. On Saturday, Christmas trees will be on sale in Weavers’ Square from 3pm, with all proceeds to the Heptonstall Lights and Planting Group.
Hebden Bridge Brass Band will play from 5.30pm for the switch-on of the Christmas tree lights. At 6pm they will move into the White Lion, where pie and peas will be served.
On Sunday, Heptonstall School’s Christmas fair runs from 2pm to 4pm in the school hall, with attractions including Santa’s grotto, games for the children, face painting and many other stalls.
Further ahead, Christmas events include:
Sunday, 15 December, 3pm, Christingle Service at St Thomas’.
Sunday, 15 December, time tbc, a concert of Klezmer music at the White Lion.
Sunday, 22 December, 10.45am, Nativity Service in the Methodist Chapel. Children from the village and school are invited to take part in this enjoyable event. We also need a baby to play Jesus – contact Margaret Coupe on 01422 842550 if you want to put your baby on the road to stardom.
Sunday 22 December 6.30pm, Village Carol Service at St Thomas.
Wednesday, 25 December, 9.30am, Joint Christmas Day Service at the Methodist Chapel.
As most residents will be aware, St Thomas’ church possesses a fine ring of 8 bells, which were originally installed in 1912 and were fully refurbished in 2012. They are rung regularly for Sunday service (at least once a month), for practice/training of new ringers (most Tuesday evenings), full peals (once a month) and by visiting ringers from various parts of the country (occasional).
We are always looking for new ringers and currently rely on help from ringers from other churches in the area. As many will be aware, our oldest ringer and tower captain for over 50 years, Colin Ashworth, passed away in October 2013 and we have in recent years also lost two other longstanding members, Nick Helliwell and Geoff Cheetham. To ensure that the bells continue to ring out into the future, we do now need more local people to come forward and join us. Anyone who would like to learn more about bell-ringing and may be interested in becoming a member of our team, please feel free to contact George Campling for further information (details below).
We are also very keen to keep residents informed about our ringing activities and we recognise that people would appreciate advance notice of any prolonged periods of ringing, such as the monthly peals, which last for approx. 3 hours at a time. These are already posted on the weekly notice of church services and activities in the church porch, but in an attempt to reach a wider audience the details are also published on this website.
Ringing planned over the next few months is as follows:
Sunday mornings (10.30-11.30): 1 September, 22 September, 17 November, 1 December
Tuesday practices (19.45-21.00): most Tuesdays (generally not the first Tuesday in the month)
Peals (approx. 3 hours’ continuous ringing):
Friday 20 September 15.00-18.15 approx
Friday 4 October 14.30-17.45 approx
Saturday 19 October 14.30-17.45
Please note that all timings are approximate, owing to the fact that generally ringers are travelling to the church from outside the area. There is however regular liaison with the local Environmental Health Department, to ensure that the overall level of ringing is kept within agreed guidelines.
A further update will be provided in November
Many thanks for your support……and look forward to hearing from you!
George Campling
Ringing Master, St Thomas’ church
01200-429344
Mr Jones had recently become the father of triplets. The minister stopped him in the street to congratulate him.
“Well Mr Jones,” he said, “I hear the Lord has smiled on you.”
“Smiled on me!” repeated Mr Jones, “He laughed out loud.”
……………………………………..
Harassed woman to very deaf husband: “Oh I do wish you would wear your hearing aid!”
“But I do lass,” he replied, “I wear it many a time when I’m by myself.”
……………………………………..
And now to the news items:
Thanks for things past: the sponsored walk and tea in May raised £1,480, and the Sunday School Anniversary in June, led by Mrs Susan Watson and her puppets, raised £975. A coffee morning at the home of Mrs Jessie Breeze raised £150, of which half went to the Forget-me-not Trust, the rest being used for chapel funds. Many thanks to everyone who supported these events.
Looking ahead: The new Methodist minister, Mrs Christine Perry, will be leading the Chapel Anniversary and Gift Day on Sunday, 13 October, at 10.45am.
On Monday, 14 October, at 2.30pm, there will be a Ladies’ Evening in the Sunday School, with speaker Leah Coneron on her visit to China. Gifts for the stall should begin with E or F.
Sunday 10 November will be the Village Rememberance Service at the Methodist Chapel with superintendent minister Rev Alistair Newton.
Monday, 12 November, 2.30pm, Ladies Evening in the Sunday School. Gifts for the stall should being with G.
Saturday, 23 November, 11.30pm. Kick off the Christmas fun at the Fair in the Sunday School, many things for children, various stalls, lunch served from 12.30pm.
Sunday, 15 December, 3pm, Christingle Service at St Thomas’.
Sunday, 22 December, 10.45am, Nativity Service in the Methodist Chapel. Children from the village and school are invited to take part in this enjoyable event. We also need a baby to play Jesus – contact Margaret Coupe on 01422 842550 if you want to put your baby on the road to stardom.
Sunday 22 December 6.30pm, Village Carol Service at St Thomas.
Wednesday, 25 December, 9.30am, Joint Christmas Day Service at the Methodist Chapel.
Sunday, 5 January, 10.45am, Covenant Service at the Methodist Chapel.
Looking even further ahead: It is the chapel’s 250th birthday next year and we are hoping to have a number of events to celebrate this.
This is the time of year when various activities take place at St. Thomas’.
Heptonstall Parish Website 