One of the highest churches (geographically) in England is St Chad's church in Middlesmoor with its beautiful views down Nidderdale in North Yorkshire. Congregations from both the Anglican church itself and the Methodist church joined together on Sunday May 18th for their first ever ecumenical Lambing Festival. Pictured is Vicar, Revd Darryl Hall, who jointly led the service with the Reverend Nigel Waterfield, the local Methodist Superintendent.
The two denominations came together in the upper dale in the autumn of 2013. Darryl who was inducted as the new Vicar of Upper Nidderdale last June said, “ The delightful sounds of St Chad's church bells rang out through the valley to call people to worship, the church was filled with beautiful hymns and the sights and sounds of nature blessed us in abundance. Winged creatures literally swooped in our act of worship as three beautiful swallows, nesting in the porch, found their way into the church.
“Three young lambs were brought in by the children for a blessing before moving out into the churchyard for a blessing on all the lambs, livestock and our farming communities of the dales.”
Next month on June 7th the Archbishop of York, Most Revd Dr John Sentamu will be visiting St Chads for a Bell Festival, which will include well known hymns, music from the pupils of Fountain's Earth (the Church of England primary school in Lofthouse) and the sermon from the Archbishop. The service is part of a traditional village fun day which follows the service with music from the Lofthouse and Middlesmoor Silver Prize Band, art displays, tombola and lots more. The procession starts from the Village Hall at approximately 1:50pm with the church service starting at 2pm.