St Chad's Church, Far Headingley

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  • About us
    • Welcome message
    • Meet the team
    • St Chad’s Church – history and architecture
      • The Baptistery
      • The Bell Tower
      • The East Window
      • Chancel, Choir and Nave
      • The Organ at St. Chad’s
      • The Lady Chapel / Chapel of St. Oswald
      • The Reredos
      • St. Oswald’s Church
      • Architectural images
    • St Chad’s Parish Centre
    • Parish Magazine
    • Our church as venue
    • Our Mission Partners
    • Churches Together in Headingley
    • Parochial Church Council (PCC)
  • Services & events
    • Regular services
    • Baptisms at St Chad’s
    • Weddings at St Chad’s
    • Funerals at St Chad’s
    • Worship on the Edge
  • Church groups
    • Bible Reading
    • Bell Ringing
    • Church Choir
    • Mothers’ Union
    • Eco St Chad’s
      • The Green Team
      • Churchyard as wildlife haven
      • Community Churchyard Work Parties
      • Gallery, Eco St Chad’s
    • ‘…another time’
    • Groups & activities – contact list
  • Community groups
    • Parent-led Toddler Group
    • Tennis Club
    • Cricket Club
    • Groups & activities – contact list
  • Children & young people
    • Sunday Club Groups
    • Brownies, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts & Explorers
    • Groups & activities – contact list
  • Giving
    • Giving – why is it important?
    • Make a donation
    • Parish Giving Scheme
    • St Chad’s charitable giving
    • Volunteering opportunities
  • Safeguarding
  • Contact us
    • Enquiry
    • How to find us
    • Meet the team
    • Groups & activities – contact list

Church Times’ Green Church Award Winners 2017!

We were so proud to find out that St Chad’s had won the Green Futures Award at the recent Church Times Green Church Awards.  Read about it on the Church of England, Diocese of Leed’s website, and also read Suzanne Dalton’s account of the awards ceremony.

Photographer: K T Bruce/Church Times
Photographer: K T Bruce/Church Times
Photographer: K T Bruce/Church Times

Filed Under: Blog

Community Churchyard Work Parties

The Green Team is always pleased to welcome new members, especially to help with the monthly Community Churchyard Work Parties. These are held on a Saturday morning from 10.00 am to 12 noon. No experience needed; tools and gloves provided (if you would prefer to use your own, please do bring them along); mid-morning refreshments; a variety of tasks to suit all ages and abilities.

Future dates for 2017

  • April 22nd
  • May 20th
  • June 17th
  • July 15th
  • August 19th
  • September 16th

Just come along or contact Christine Khullar in the Parish Office 0113 274 4322.

Filed Under: Blog

Churchyard as wildlife haven

Image shows one of the clusters of bat boxes in the churchyard. Unlike bird boxes, bat boxes should be grouped, the boxes facing in different directions. The bats use them for roosting between their main feeding times of dawn and dusk. We have two species of Pipistrelle and also Noctule bats feeding in the churchyard.

St Chad’s churchyard (approximately three hectares) surrounds the Victorian church dedicated in 1868. It is an valuable wildlife haven, as in earlier times, the land was used by Ivy House Farm (situated on the site of the present Parish Centre) for hay meadows and grazing. The ground has never been treated with chemicals (herbicides, fungicides or artificial fertilisers). Seventeen years ago, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Churchyard Officer gave us valuable advice on maintaining the land for the benefit of wildlife, whilst always remembering its primary purpose as a resting place for the deceased. A highlight of this visit was the discovery of traditional Yorkshire hay meadow grasses, such as sweet vernal, which gives hay its distinctive aroma. We keep a small section of the grass in front of the church as a mini hay meadow, with a traditional cutting regime. Gradually wild flowers are colonising this area.

There are a variety of habitats within the churchyard. It benefits from being bordered to the west by Church Wood and within the curtilage there are mature trees, hedges, bushes, and a border of flowering plants providing pollen and nectar “a supermarket” for insects. The grass is cut at different lengths – for the benefit of “brown” butterflies and to encourage wild flowers which grow in shorter sward. Bumble bees nest in old mouse and vole holes. We have seven bird boxes which are monitored and cleaned annually and three clusters of bat boxes. Hedgehog hibernation homes, made by the Church Youth Group are tucked into the hedge bottoms. Close to the Garden of Rest we have a mini-beast hotel, built by a group of young people on a “Work Experience” day. In the Garden of Rest we encourage relatives to plant spring-flowering bulbs which provide pollen and nectar for early-flying spring insects such as queen bumble bees. Two years ago, a group from Santander Bank (on a Community Day) planted up a border of shrubs to provide nectar-rich flowers and autumn berries.

Lady’s Smock or Cuckoo Flower can be found in the “new” churchyard in late spring. It is the food plant for the caterpillars of the Orange Tip butterfly. These plants are “flagged” to prevent them being mown out.

We keep records of our wildlife – if we don’t know what we have, how can we conserve it? The bird list (which includes winter visitors and summer migrants) now stands at forty five species, the most recent being a pair of Hobbys. It is interesting to note that red kites and buzzards are frequently seen – unheard of fifteen years ago. The butterfly list is a remarkable thirteen species. We encourage the orange-tips by “flagging” specimens of cuckoo flower. This prevents the plants on which the female butterfly lays eggs, from being mown out.

The Mid-Yorkshire Fungus Group makes an annual visit in the autumn. We are particularly proud of our Pink Waxcap or ballerina fungus, which is a UK biodiversity indicator species of unimproved grassland.

The churchyard is an “Urban Pollinators” survey site, part of a nationwide project. Leeds University uses the churchyard as an outdoor classroom and for research projects. We hold regular events for children and adults. In June 2015, as part of “Cherishing Churchyards” week, we offered guided walks including one specifically on the geology of the stones used in the construction of the church and some of the churchyard memorials.

We also hold monthly Community Work Parties to help with maintenance. Local residents, who value tranquillity in the midst of suburbia, but may not be regular worshippers in the church, join members of the congregation on a variety of tasks.

We were fortunate in obtaining grants for two Interpretive Boards and also a professionally printed leaflet “A Walk Round St Chad’s Churchyard” and a more detailed booklet “St. Chad’s Church Far Headingley, A Geological Trail“. These have been distributed to local schools, libraries and community venues and are available at the back of church and in the Parish Office. We aim to encourage everyone to enjoy this remarkable place.

Visit our Eco St Chad’s Gallery for more images.

Pink Waxcup
Orange Tip butterfly

Filed Under: Groups & activities

‘…another time’

When?

Second Tuesday of the month in the Parish Centre at 7.30pm, with coffee, cake and biscuits.

What is ‘… another time’?

Our experiences of God, meeting together and asking questions about faith, all change and develop with time.

Following a course some years ago, a number of members sought a chance for discussion and informal worship.

Out of this ‘…another time’ was born.  This is a chance to meet each other and God… to chat, pray, sing, eat, question and we hope to enrich the lives of all those there.

  • This is not ‘house group’ or ‘mid week service’;
  • It could be ‘church’, but not as we know it;
  • It is completely different. Come and see.

For more information, have a chat with Dorothy Gazey (0113 257 8868), or Hilary Larkin (0113 278 2391).

Filed Under: Church groups

Cricket Club

New players, volunteers & sponsors.

We are the only amateur cricket club in Headingley, Leeds with over 130 years of history and 15 senior and junior teams, playing both at the weekend and midweek. Join us now for 2018!

We are looking for new players of all standards and ages for the following teams:

  • 3 Saturday and 1 Sunday league teams (champions in 2010 and 2015)
  • A midweek evening league team (champions in 2014 and 2015)
  • 2 midweek evening Last Man Stands social league teams
  • Junior teams at various age groups starting from 5 years old
  • A ladies team playing both hard ball and soft ball cricket

…..and if you want to play all year round you can play for one of our indoor league teams in the winter! No other cricket club in the area can provide cricket for such a wide variety of standards and ages, all year round.

Not only do we have consistent on field success (21 trophies in the last 10 seasons) but we also have a social scene that is second to none. What more would you want from a cricket club? What about a visit to our nets by England and Yorkshire players Gary Ballance and Jonny Bairstow (see the videos section) or us hosting the first outdoor game of the year in January! Yes, really!

As well as new players, we are also looking for volunteers and sponsors.

If you are interested, please contact Paul on 07795 154444 or at paul@stchadscc.com.

 

Filed Under: Community groups

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Browse our site

  • About us
    • Welcome message
    • Meet the team
    • St Chad’s Church – history and architecture
    • St Chad’s Parish Centre
    • Parish Magazine
    • Our church as venue
    • Our Mission Partners
      • News from the Marshalls in Malta
    • Parochial Church Council (PCC)
      • PCC Committee Members
  • Services & events
    • St Chad’s January Services
    • Weddings at St Chad’s
    • Regular services
    • Baptisms at St Chad’s
    • Funerals at St Chad’s
    • Worship on the Edge
  • Church groups
  • Community groups
  • Children & young people
    • Brownies, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts & Explorers
    • Sunday Club Groups
  • Giving
    • Giving – why is it important?
    • Make a donation
      • Parish Giving Scheme
    • St Chad’s charitable giving
    • Volunteering opportunities
  • Eco St Chad’s
  • Groups & activities – contact list
  • Contact us
    • Enquiry
    • How to find us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Safeguarding

                    Thought for the Month

“Lord God of surprises, we thank you that you know each one of us

and you call us to humble obedience to your will.

Give us that readiness to hear, accept and follow

your purposes for our lives. Amen”

A prayer by Archbishop John Sentamu

 

CONTACT DETAILS

St Chad’s Church
Otley Road, Far Headingley, Leeds LS16 5JT

Parish Office Tel: 07434 660 785
Email: office@stchads.co.uk

Parish Office opening hours:
Monday 9am – 12 noon
Tuesday 9am – 12 noon
CLOSED WEDNESDAY
Thursday 9am – 12 noon
Friday 9am – 12 noon

Parish Centre Bookings Tel: 0113 230 7665  Email stchadspc@btinternet.com
Website www.stchadsparishcentre.org

 

MORE NEWS …

Church Times Green Church Award Winners!

We were so proud to find out that St Chad's had won the Green Futures Award at the recent Church Times Green Church Awards.  Find out more here.

Links

St Michael's Church, Headingley

Church of England, Diocese of Leeds

Leeds Church Institute

A Rocha

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