News

Rev'd. Leah Leighton announced as the new minister!

We are delighted to announce that the new minister of St Margaret's will be Rev'd Leah Leighton.

Leah is currently the curate at Holy Trinity Church in Idle. Her role will be a combined role of Priest-in-Charge of St Margaret's and Associate Minister at Fountains Church Bradford. She will play a vital role in energising the mission and life of God's people in Frizinghall, and in how the work of the Kingdom of God in Frizinghall can benefit from the partnership between the people of St Margaret's and the people of Fountains Church Bradford in the city centre. We look forward to Leah's licensing (split between Fountains and St Margaret's) on Sunday 29th June, part 1 at Fountains at 4.30pm and part 2 at St Margaret's at 7pm, with food at Fountains in between! 

Rev'd. Nathanael Poole leaving, appointment process underway

With sadness, we announce that our minister, Rev'd Nathanael Poole is leaving St Margaret's (and also leaving his other half-time role at Fountains Church, Bradford) at the end of January to take up the post of full-time minister of Farsley. Nathanael goes with all our very best wishes, and our gratitude for a wonderful, fruitful time with us. His last Sunday at St Margaret's will be 26th January 2025 (10am service).

The church council (PCC) is already actively engaged with the diocese of Leeds in the process for appointing a successor. We hope to advertise in late January with a view to receiving applications in March and appointing around Easter time. If that process is successful, we may have a new minister in post in the summer of 2025. Nothing, however, is guaranteed! During the period of vacancy the formal responsibility for the life of the church rests with the church council (PCC), and the leadership team on a day-to-day basis, all supported by the Church of England diocese of Leeds.

Regular Community Activities restart for the autumn ...

We're pleased to announce that all of our regular activities are now underway for the autumn once again. This includes PATCH for young children and carers, Homework Club, Wednesday Cafe, and more.

"Warm Welcome" now available!

We're pleased to report that the Phase 1 work to upgrade our church and hall heating has been completed on time. The church is now heated during the colder months by environmentally-friendly air-source heat pumps powering a series of radiators around the building. We're grateful to the heating contractors and to all of the donors whose generosity has made this possible.

We're well on the way to full carbon neutrality. The final phase is to install solar panels on the church roof and supporting batteries, so that the electricity powering the heat pumps is produced sustainably and does not become a cost burden to the church or the various community groups benefiting from using the building.

"Warm Welcome" Heating Work Underway - St Margaret's worshipping in Shipley CofE Primary School

The work has started in the church building to install warmer and more environmentally-friendly heat pumps in place of the old boiler. "Warm Welcome" is not far off now!

We will gather for worship and children and young people's groups at the usual time on Sundays (10am), but in the nearby Shipley Church of England Primary School. This applies from 12th March 2023 onwards for probably 4 weeks. If you can bring your own cup for drinks afterwards, that helps us (but there will be some spares available). We are very grateful to the school staff and leadership for welcoming us, and we look forward to seeing everyone there.

Shipley CofE School is here on Otley Road / Manor Lane.

Next Frizinghall Community Litter Pick

We are planning to have our next litter pick at 12pm on Sunday 8th January 2023. Meet together outside church.

The next meeting of Frizinghall Community Action Group - 

January 30th 2023 - in church hall - building works permitting.

Frizinghall Survey - Autumn 2022

Frizinghall Community Action Group was started recently by local people including church members from St Margaret’s. We are hoping to set up new activities to help Frizinghall be an even better place to live. Can you give us your ideas?

Click here to contribute to the survey.

Frizinghall Community Litter Pick

We are planning to have our first litter pick at 11am on Saturday 24th September. Meet together outside church.

Mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022)

Warm welcome!

Plans are underway for the much-needed redevelopment of our church heating system, for which we hope we can secure the funding to have the work done over this winter time. The aims of this are:

• to make St Margaret's a place of warm welcome to support all the local community activities through the week as well as supporting the worshipping life of the church on Sundays
• to move us away from the use of fossil fuels for our heating
• to replace our old boiler and heating system, long overdue for replacement

The work involves replacing the existing main boiler with air-source heat pumps, and the existing old radiators with a network of "heat emitters", plus meeting electricity needs through solar panels on the church roof.

We are grateful to the Lord for the provision of some funding through a generous legacy from someone blessed through the ministry of St Margaret's Church, and we are hopeful that we can raise the rest of the significant sums required, through grants.

Community Outreach and Partnerships

Several members of the St Margaret's Church family, and members of the PCC (Church Council) and leadership, met together with representatives from the local community to make plans together over how we can collaborate to serve the needs of all the people of Frizinghall. Rev'd Nathanael Poole, our minister, chaired the meeting. The first planned activity is to be a local litter pick in September, to improve the safety and attractiveness of our local environment. More details to follow. The group will meet again in October to plan next steps.

Partnership with Fountains Church, and Appointment of Rev'd Nathanael Poole as our minister!

We are pleased to announce some exciting and important developments in the life of St Margaret's Church. St Margaret's and Fountains Church Bradford have agreed a 3-year partnership to support the life and mission of St Margaret's Church, Frizinghall and to multiply the impact of Fountains Church through involvement in the kinds of outreach opportunities that there are in the parish of Frizinghall.

One important part of the partnership is the appointment of Rev'd Nathanael Poole as Interim Minister of St Margaret's (half-time) as well as continuing (half-time) as Associate Minister of Fountains Church.

"Having lived in Frizinghall for the past two years I am very excited to be invited to be the minister of St Margaret's. St Margaret's has a long history of serving the local community, I hope this is further developed, as we seek God's desire for wellbeing and peace in Frizinghall. Recently I was involved in a mural on the side of Fountains Church Bradford, made possible by the Bradford 2025 city of culture bid team, it says, 'Bradford is Beautiful'. This is what I hope for everyone who live in Frizinghall and Bradford, that where some would speak negatively, we would speak a blessing. If you are a person of faith, then please do pray for my family and everyone at St Margaret's, as we begin this new chapter together."