Sunday 10th November
10am in church and 10.45am at the War Memorial
Join us as we remember those from our village and beyond who served in all wars. The service will begin at 10am in church, and from 10.45am the service will move to the War Memorial on the old church site, where the names of the fallen will be read out.
This outdoor service will be broadcast live on our Facebook page.
Please join us for either or both of these services.
You can download the November 2024 parish magazine in PDF format using the link below.
The parish magazine is in Adobe PDF format, if you can’t view the magazine you can download a reader at adobe.com.
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. “
John 15:13 (NRSVA)
It’s been a real joy since I arrived with you nearly two months ago to worship in all of the churches and to begin the process of getting to know you all. As I write I’ve been in post now for nearly six weeks and a lot has happened. It’s scary to think that we’re already nearly at Christmas!
But between then and now we have our season of remembering and our season of Advent. November is always a significant time in the church year when we remember those who have died. Over the past couple of weeks we have held our All Souls, or Memorial, services in each of our four churches. At these services we remembered all those who have had funerals in our churches over the last twelve months, as well as those who are requested in each church. If you missed it this year, look out for details of next year’s services—they are always held at the end of October or the beginning of November. Everyone is welcome to these ser-vices whether the loved one you are remembering died recently or many years ago.
Remembering those who have gone before us is a really important thing for us to do. Remembering the things they’ve done for us, the things we’ve learned from them and that everything we do today is built upon the work and the prayers of those who have gone before us. And we in our turn are laying more foundations for future generations to come.
Perhaps the most poignant part of our season of remembering is our annual Remembrance Sunday services around the benefice. (See opposite for details of the service times). The freedoms we take for granted now were won by the sacrifice of many men, women and children. We remember their sacrifice and pray that never again will such sacrifices be required so we continue to pray for peace in our world. These services of Remembrance are not about glorying in victory but remembering the hardships the struggles and the sacrifices everyone affected experienced as a result of the conflict. Peace takes work, hard work and as churches we need to be people who seek to build peace in everything we say and do.
May God’s peace dwell in your hearts in everything you say and do this season of remembrance.
With love and prayers
Diane
Revd Diane Komorowski (Associate Vicar)
Thurs 31st October 5pm-7pm
A family friendly alternative to the spooks and scares of the season—a party for all school age children up to year 6. Bring your children to St Peter’s for food, games, a silent disco, crafts and goodies, call in anytime from 5pm—7pm.
Sunday 27th October 3pm
Memorial service for anyone suffering bereavement. Please just come along.
A warm welcome to our harvest festival service on Sunday 13th October when we will be giving thanks for all God’s many blessings to us. This will be an informal family service and will be followed by a bring and share lunch to which everyone is invited.
Donations of food are welcome: gifts such as fresh fruit and vegetables will be used in our harvest lunch on Tuesday 15th October, and dried or tinned food will be donated to CAP Care in Wakefield which supports homeless people.
Also on Tuesday 15th October – Community Harvest Lunch
11am—1pm
Everyone is warmly invited to St Peter’s church on Tuesday 15th October for a Community Harvest Lunch. There will be a delicious home-cooked meal and refreshments.
Arrive from 10.30am for tea and coffee, and at 11.30am we will be welcoming Stanley St Peter’s school choir to entertain us with some harvest songs. We will also have some fun harvest themed quizzes!
The cost per person is £6.
Dear Friends, It was wonderful to gather at St Mary Magdalene in Outwood on last month for Rev Diane’s licensing to serve here in the Benefice. It has been a long journey since Fr Jonathan left in January 2023 with a lot of extra work to cover, and therefore we are very appreciative of the many people in the four churches who have helped in many ways during this time.
We are all pilgrims on a journey, and as we look to future, it will be lovely to share with Diane our hopes and vision for the future of our benefice. To get us started, you are invited to join us on Saturday 19th October at St Anne’s in Wrenthorpe. There will be refreshments from 9.30am, then worship at 10am, with the session finishing at 12pm at the latest. The meeting will allow us the time to pray, share, discuss and plan the next stage in the life of the benefice. At harvest time we give thanks for God’s bounty, and this meeting will allow us to give thanks for the many gifts and talents we can offer to God in his service in our benefice.
This year, we have celebrated the 200th anniversary of St Peter’s and the 150th anniversary of St Anne’s. It has been good to look back and reflect on the journey of these churches, but we know the baton has been passed to us to continue ‘being the church’ in these villages at this time. Therefore, please do join us on the 19th October and in the meantime pray for our time together that our plans and discus-sions will be in line with God’s will for the benefice.
From Monday 7th October 2024 we will be celebrating Morning Prayer on a different day each week in each of our four churches. Anyone is welcome to join any of the services. It will give us an opportunity to pray for what’s happening in each church and the mission of the wider benefice as well as the world and community in which we live. The times and locations are as follows:
If you would be interested in having a regular zoom prayer meeting on a Saturday morning, please contact Rev Diane (revddianek@gmail.com). If there is sufficient interest we will organise one from November. If anyone is unable to join any of the prayer meetings but would like to pray with us from homes there will be prayer sheets available in each church from October that you can take home to pray alongside us. Take care and God Bless, Glenn
Rev Glenn Coggins, Vicar of the United Benefice of North Wakefield
You can download the October 2024 parish magazine in PDF format using the link below.
The parish magazine is in Adobe PDF format, if you can’t view the magazine you can download a reader at adobe.com.
7.30pm, Tuesday 10th September
St Mary Magdalene, Outwood
Rev Diane will be licensed as Associate Priest of the North Wakefield Benefice at this special service which will be led by the Bishop of Huddersfield, the Rt Rev Smitha Prasadam.
Rev Diane and her family have moved into the Wrenthorpe vicarage, and we are all greatly looking forward to welcoming Diane into our church families and to working together.
The original St Peter’s church was opened on 6th September 1824. It was a ‘Waterloo’ or ‘Million Pound Fund’ church—built after the victory at Waterloo and paid for by a fund allocated by the government for the purpose of increasing church attendance across the UK. St Peter’s church congregation is now worshipping in the third St Peter’s church: the first church burned down in 1911, and the rebuilt second church was eventually closed in 2001 after it became structurally unsound, and was demolished in 2014.
It is a privilege that this month we can celebrate two centuries of worship in the different St Peter’s churches in Stanley and we want to give thanks for every-one who has been involved in its history over the years. We remember everyone who has had weddings, baptisms and funerals, and everyone who has attended church services, community groups and social events.
We hope that as many people as possible can join us at some point over the weekend. Here are the events that will be taking place:
Friday 6th September at 7pm
A short outdoor service on the old church site to give thanks for our churches through the years, followed by refreshments.
Saturday 7th September 10am—3pm
Flower festival and exhibition in St Peter’s church with photos, memorabilia, films etc. Refreshments will be available. SRG will be leading some heritage walks during the morning from 11am to Bottomboat, Stanley Ferry and Hatfield Hall. We will also be unveiling our refurbished painted window and our new wall hanging which has been created by the Knit & Natter group. We will also have a commemorative booklet available which sets out the history about the church as well as some reflections and memories from church members.
Please note that Flower arrangements are very welcome and can be brought in to church on the Friday.
Sunday 8th September at 10am
The Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, will be leading our special service and will dedicate the window and wall hanging. There will be a light lunch afterwards. The exhibition will be open again until 3pm.
