St Helen’s church Burghwallis is set to reopen on 4th December 2022, at 8.45am. After extensive repairs to the roof, along with roof insulation to be more environmentally friendly, new stone roof crosses, replacement coping stones – and most importantly new drain pipes, monthly services will begin with the 08:00 first Sunday in the month, other weekly services will be an 8.45am communion service.
This grade 1 listed little church dates back to c.1200 and Anglo Saxon times and last had roof repairs around 120 years ago – hopefully the recent repairs will last even longer.
Leading up to the Covid closure the congregation was diminishing, with aging attendees and very few new ‘recruits’. The roof collapse occurring during the Covid outbreak was in some ways well timed as it was the root cause of the closure. However, Covid also impacted badly on the rebuild process.
As St Helen’s reopens there have been a few losses to the congregation during the closed period. Several parishioners have moved or died. There are plans to reinvigorate attendance and even establish new functions to be held within the church. This will re-establish the church as the centre of the village both physically and operationally. If it closes a huge gap will appear in its 800 year existence.
The Future of St Helen’s
Future events in 2023 will include an open day, inviting people from the local area to come and meet, have a drink and meet a Bishop. We invite your thoughts on how we can reach out to support the village of Burghwallis. An example would be changing one of the services per month to an all age service, with a different style of service more suited to all ages. We are also starting a Messy Church ‘Goes Wild’ in 2023, which has environmental activities for parents & children in conjunction with other churches in our mission area. If you have children who may be interested in this, please contact Fr Chris Herbert 01302792615 and leave a message.
Did you know we have an outdoor chapel at Squirrel Wood Scout Camp, which we could use more often with an environment themed services, if people would find that exciting, let us know. Also, did you know that In the Benefice we already have a Messy Church that meets once a month at Norton Community Hall. We will be opening a Dementia Café one Saturday a month at St Mary Magdalene, Campsall and looking at starting a home group in Burghwallis to talk about and support each other weekly.
Fr Chris Herbert