Both churches are now OPEN for Private Prayer, Reflection and Candle lighting.  Whitley Sundays 1030-1230 and Thornhill Wednesdays and Sundays 10.0-12.0

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UPdate -   Dewsbury South Covid-19 community action group(DSCs) was born three months ago to support the elderly and the vulnerable who had to self-isolate for their safety in Thornhill, Thornhill Lees, Whitley & Briestfield.  Members of Empathy, a multicultural community group that aims to bring people from all backgrounds together; Darul-ilm Mosque; Thornhill Community Academy, the local high school; Quba Community Hub; Thornhill Parish Church and the parish of Ravensthorpe with Thornhill Lees and Savile Town work closely together for the community, supported by members of the local branch of the Labour Party. Volunteers have generously come forward to enable us to achieve our objective. We are all taking care to make sure everyone is aware of the very infectious nature of the Covid-19 virus. We avoid physical contact staying at least 2 metres distant and washing our hands regularly.

We leafleted 5000 households within a week and have since done 184 shops for those self-isolated, collected 45 prescriptions, posted mail and supported people on the phone. Our project is all about local people helping each other at a time of need regardless of background. By reaching out to everyone in the community we are trying to demonstrate that by pulling together we can not only help people to get through this difficult time but also develop a sense of community spirit that unfortunately is not as strong as it once was. Our area has seen a great number of changes over the past 60 years. Thornhill & the villages are predominantly white British. By contrast Thornhill Lees is a mixed community of white & Asian British but the populations are not really integrating.  Because this is a multi-cultural, multi-faith initiative we have had the opportunity to show each population the best of ourselves, demonstrating this through practical support, kindness and humanity.

Realising more & more the increasingly high level of need in our community, we have broadened our objective to include support more locals whose needs have been caused or worsened Covid-19 emergency. We work closely with Zakaria Mosque in Savile Town & Neighbourhood Nest in Thornhill. Eighteen urgent food parcels & 467 free meals have been sourced for those locked down. A ‘Kirklees Community Who Can?’ grant allowed us to offer a free shop for each of the self-isolating households in contact with us. Twice weekly we receive free food from Fareshare Go, recently supplemented by food from Fareshare Yorkshire thanks to a generous grant from Borough Parish Credit Union. We sort out this food into packs for individual households offering them to different streets each time, now with added items for children.

 We are always striving to find better ways of targeting our help towards those in need. We have just printed a leaflet ‘Love never fails’ that offers emotional & spiritual support and includes contact details of many local & national organisations. For those living in our area in increased need due to Covid-19 emergency we encourage them to phone us on 07540985591 or email 4empathy@gmail.com

DC Currie   Member of DSCs    15th June 2020

 

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The Rev Sue Clarke is running a Christian Meditation virtually from  TUESDAY May 12th on Zoom.  See invite HERE   You will need to get in touch with Rev Sue to get the link code. sueclarke538@gmail.com 

or log in to Zoom and Click Join Meeting and enter this code https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87945955303?pwd=enJMVkZCL0dDWTZHYTlLOUZZNjRxdz09

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ALL Information on Covid 19 and the Church can be seen at

https://www.leeds.anglican.org/covid-19

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Thornhill Poors Charity

is having a New Round of Grants specifically to help organisations ( not individuals) who provide services to the Poor, Elderly or Young. It covers the area of the former Greater Thornhill Parish.  Further Details are available Here      This is in the hope that they can pay particular attention to any Group involved serving the above categories in the light of the Corona Virus pandemic or the aftermath.

Please draw this to the attention of any group NEW or long established who have not had a Grant in 2019-2020

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Pastoral Message from Debbie

My dear friends....... click Here  to read

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The death  of a dear friend of the church has been announced JOYCE THWAITES died aged 97 in her Care Home in York. We pray for her family and thank God for her long life serving others

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This picture is of Peggy Nowell who recently celebrated her 100th Birthday. She was a Leap Year Baby so has not had too many Birthdays.   Congratulations Peggy.

Peggy was active in the Tenants and Residents Group in Thornhill and a Member of our church PCC until into her Nineties.

Here she is with Kathleen Wood.