News from Haworth, Stanbury

Sunday: Church services – Stanbury Church, family service at 9.30am and Haworth Parish Church, holy communion at 8am and family service at 10.45am. West Lane Baptist Church, 10.30am holy communion with David Skeet and at 6pm joining the Methodists for their anniversary service. West Lane Methodist Church, 10.30am morning service and evening anniversary joint service at 6pm both with the Rev Dr Neville Richardson.

Hall Green Baptist Church, morning family service at 10.30am and at 6pm. Our Lady of Lourdes, Ebor Lane, mass at 10am. Scar Top Service at 2.45pm. FERN Christian Fellowship meet in the Methodist Church Hall at 6.30pm. Monday: Drop in for coffee and lunch at West Lane Baptist Church from 10am onwards.

2.30pm at Stanbury Church. This is an annual event and features the results of professional cellist Kim Mackrell’s Yorkshire spring cello course. There are usually about eight cellos and possibly soloists on other instruments. Free entry, refreshments served and a retiring collection.
Wednesday: Talk at West Lane Baptist Church at 2pm on Sir James Roberts, the Haworth lad who bought the Parsonage.  Admission £5. Tickets from louise.briggs @bronte.org.uk or on (01535) 640188.

Minutes of the Haworth Village Trust meeting on March 12. Matters arising: Both Treetops Children’s Centre and the park toilets have been saved for a further year, due to petitions and publicity by residents and backing from Worth Valley district councillors. Finance: The Haworth Festival has been awarded £400 from the Area Committee’s Community Chest. Project news: Freda Conquest also reported on plans for the official launch of the bandstand on June 22. Gill and Peter Hill showed the meeting the newly reproduced photos of the park from days gone by. It was suggested that a request for other old photos of the park is made in particular of the bandstand for the display currently in the foyer of the park toilets.
Memorial Garden: Gill Hill reported that work was due to commence next week. Grand Depart: Phil Barker from Brad Council visited Haworth Park to evaluate in respect of park being one of three proposed hubs. The final decision is due at the end of May. It was generally felt that the Tour de France organisation has left a lot of the final decision making very late making it hard for the community to help with the benefits etc. The road closure list has now been released and the meeting discussed these. It was mentioned that this is going to produce major difficulties to residents who need to get to work as there will also be no public transport.
Haworth In Bloom: Gill Hill reported that support for the group was growing. The new website donated by Graham Smith of Bronte Media is now live and can be viewed at haworthinbloom.co.uk with a link to the village website. Haworth Festival: John Sargent reported that plans were progressing with the final programme nearing completion. The dates have been finalised as Friday, June 19 to Sunday, June 29. The Haw-Earth project masterminded by the parish council has begun clearing a community allotment, and the village car park is to have a face lift with the verges between the car park and the path to the top of Main Street being sown with poppies and wild flowers. Peter Hill and Rebecca Poulson said they were aware that Bradford Council is in the process of scrutinising all their car parks with a view to their futures. Peter said the parish council is looking to have responsibility and the income from the village car park. The future of the fire station is still in consultation by the parish council and the fire service. It was reported that the retained firefighters have all been served with redundancy notices. This was expected and does not have any direct effect on the current negotiations.

The Haworth West Lane Baptist Amateur Operatic Company present “On the Air”   at the church at 7.30pm on three dates:  Wednesday, May 14, Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17, which coincides the the Haworth 1940s Weekend. This is a light-hearted look at the way we were in the 1940s with music drama and a bit of humour. The audience will be asked to sing along with the well known songs
from those eras. Admission on the Wednesday is £6 and £3 for children and on the Friday and Saturday it is £8 and £5. For more information, visit westlane baptistcentre.org.uk and go the the Gilbert and Sullivan section. For tickets, ring Vera Waddington on (01535) 643425.

The new bandstand in Haworth’s Central Park is completed and is free to use by any sort of group – not just bands. The official opening date will be on Sunday, June 22 when there will be various performances throughout the day and evening. This is a multi-purpose performance venue, with disability access and has electric power and lighting. Anyone wanting  to use the bandstand should contact Mel Smith on (01535) 618068 or mel.smith@bradford.gov.uk.

Haworth Brass Band rehearse on Monday evenings at 7.45pm in the band room above the Fleece Inn in Main Street. It currently needs more brass and percussion players to make up a full complement of 27 players. It is about a dozen short, so there are vacancies for almost all positions in the band. The band has an illustrious 160-year history, a huge music library and many top-of-the-range brass instruments that can to loaned to members. For more information, visit  thehaworthband.co.uk or ring Graham Richardson on (01535) 604215.

Worth Valley Young Farmers’ Club met this week to help out with the Tour de France Fields of Vision project by making the trays to send to local primary schools.  If you are interested in getting involved with the Young Farmers’ Club and our project, please visit worthvalley.org for more details.

The 17th Bronte Vintage Gathering will take place in Flappit Fields off the B6144 between Haworth and Cullingworth on Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11, in aid of the Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice. The event has raised £310,000 since 1998.

The Friends of the Brontes’ Church is an organisation formed two years ago with the aim of raising funds for the upkeep and restoration of Haworth Parish Church. It arranges various social events and membership is open to all.  For more information, please contact the Rev Peter Mayo-Smith on (01535) 648464, or visit friendsofthebrontechurch.co.uk or follow them on Twitter @friendsofbronte.

The Haworth 1940 Weekend will be taking place from May 17 to 18. It is the biggest hive of nostalgic activity in the county.  Fuller details in this paper nearer the time.
The Haworth and Oxenhope District Bridleways Group’s first dressage competition of 2014 was held on Saturday at Lilyhall Livery Stables, Haworth. Despite a low turnout, a good time was had by all those taking part. Results as follows: Introductory A Fledglings (Senior) 1st place Karen Ballantine on Murphy; P7 and P13 (Juniors 1st place Abigail Kershaw on Treacle; P7 Senior 1st = Jan Bates on Barrontop Charlie and Angela Parker on Galway Warrior, 2nd Fiona Tiley on Aurora; P13 Senior 1st Angela Parker on Galway Warrior, 2nd Fiona Tiley on Aurora. The next competition will be on June 7 when the tests will be Intro B, P12, P13 and N28. The annual May Day ride will be on Monday. Decorated horses and riders to start from the bottom of Main Street at 10am, meeting at the Penistone top car park for judging at 10.45am. Rides of three, five, seven and 11 miles will leave at about 11am.
The speaker at the next meeting, on May 20, will be from the British Horse Society. Meetings are held monthly, at the Old White Lion Hotel, Haworth at 8pm, preceded by a junior meeting at 6.45pm. Full details of events in 2014 plus pictures and adverts can be found on hodbg.org.   For further details, contact Gill Burgess on (01535) 644347; 07799 614763 or   gill.burgess4@virginmedia.com.

Members of Haworth Tennis Club are reminded that subscriptions are now due. The court locks have been changed so the new key is purple, which can be exchanged for last year’s red key on renewal of membership. A club social afternoon was held on Sunday, April 27, from 2-5pm. Hopefully, this will take place on every last Sunday of the month during the summer playing season. 

Oakworth Textiles will be running a beginners prodded rag rugs workshop in Lees Methodist Church Hall on Saturday, May 10 from 10-4pm, with an hour for lunch. The session will be sociable and fun but very comprehensive. Topics covered include preparing a base, transferring a design, fabric types, cutting, prodding and finishing off. Participants will each work on a small sampler and mark up another piece of hessian to enable further practice later. The church hall is wheelchair friendly, with a ramp leading from the adjoining free car park. The fee of £35 includes tea/coffee, lesson materials, handouts, use of equipment and a peg prodder to keep. Participants are welcome to bring a packed lunch but there is an excellent fish and chip shop close by, plus two sandwich shops and a cafe. Places can be reserved by phone on (01535) 669605 to Amy Baldwin or e-mail amy@oaktex.co.uk. Please pay cash on the day.

Haworth Parish Church last Sunday had a large service. It included the blessing of Haworth resident David Pearson as Her Majesty’s Deputy Lord Lieutenant for West Yorkshire. He appeared in his ceremonial uniform. Baby Joseph Edward Smith was baptised at this service. The church’s new servery was taken into use for the first time and was blessed.
West Lane Methodist Church will have a busy month of May. The first Sunday, this year the 4th, marks the 183rd Sunday School anniversary. The Rev Dr Neville Richardson will lead services at 10.30am and 6pm. We look forward to being joined by friends from Lees church and others who accept personal invitations. Although we readily gave our Sunday School to West Lane Baptist Church some years ago as part of a sharing arrangement we still recognise the longevity of the Sunday School movement. The Methodist society began as long ago as 1744/45. A Sabbath school as they were called, was formed some time later. The anniversaries were begun in the 19th century as a way of funding the work for the coming year. This is no longer done but good to remember that Sunday Schools were not just for children. Scholars of all ages were taught to read and write. From them day schools grew. Our present building was a Wesleyan day school 30 years before the state took over education. Later in the month at Haworth’s 1940s Weekend we will be serving wartime-style food at our NAAFI Café on Saturday, May 17 from 10.30am. Also over the weekend there will be an exhibition on the Bletchley Park code breakers in the chapel. There will be no service on our premises that Sunday.

Fundraiser for Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church will be making a Gift Aid claim against all recorded donations shortly and need to know about any donors who did not pay tax during the tax year 2013-14. Thank you. Mass offering envelopes are now available at the back of church. Confirmation will take place at Our Lady Of Lourdes on Sunday, June 8 – the Feast of Pentecost at 10am. Could candidates please return the completed white card as soon as possible?