CASTLEFORD

TEAM PARISH

Parish Profile

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Castleford stands approximately 10 miles south of Leeds and close to junctions 31 & 32 of the M62

motorway. It also stands at the confluence of two major rivers the Aire and Calder. It is part of the

metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire.

Castleford has a population of around 40,200, in the appropriate wards of Castleford Central and

Glasshoughton, Ferry Fryston and Whitwood. It is historically part of the Osgoldcross Wapentake in the

West Riding of Yorkshire.

Historically the town is the site of a Roman settlement. The 19th century brought huge changes to the town

as it moved from a population of around 1,000 to over 14,000 due to the development of Industries

especially coal mining. The majority of the industries have come and gone but the town stills retains a

factory of the internationally renowned clothing company Burberry. Within the historical Castleford

Borough lies the suburbs of Airedale, Cutsyke, Ferry Fryston, Fryston, Glasshoughton, Half Acres,

Hightown, Lock Lane, Wheldale and Whitwood.

Castleford is home to the rugby league Super League team Castleford Tigers. The junction 32 Shopping

Centre is within the Parish alongside the Leisure Complex of Xscape both at Glasshoughton.

Churches within the parish are All Saints, Castleford; All Saints, Hightown; St Michael & All Angels,

Smawthorne; St Paul the Apostle. Glasshoughton.

In 2008, the Channel 4 television programme “Grand Designs” with its presenter Kevin McCloud led a

community regeneration scheme to redevelop Castleford, entitled “Kevin McCloud’s Big Town Plan”. It

brought about many improvements to the town, not least an architect designed footbridge across the River

Aire that has become a visitor attraction on its own. The footbridge stands close to Queens Mill, previously

the home of Allison’s Stone Ground Flour. This building has now been acquired by Castleford Heritage

Trust and is being re-developed as a visitor attraction.

About the Location and the Town

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Welcome!

Castleford Team Parish is a busy benefice. We undertake a fair number of occasional offices during the

course of a year which most months sees us having on average 13 such services. There is a clear

understanding that we are over “churched”, buildings wise, in the parish and a consultation group is

being formed to look at this in detail with a view to making recommendations to the PCC. This certainly

is a challenge for the future.

Our churches are busy with the normal daily offices, weekly masses and occasional offices. Each church

within the team arranges its own fundraising events which, of late, have proved a useful extra stream of

income for the Team.

In 2014 & 2015 we achieved around 50% & 60% of our parish share contribution respectively and 2016

is likely to be around the same amount. Our share this year is £62,246. We have a set payment of

£2500 per month paid by standing order which ensure that we achieve £30,000 per annum with funds

being raised on top of this through our annual gift day which have in the past enabled us to increase this

amount to the levels indicated.

So, what are our main strengths?

We have a faithful core of worshippers

Our churches are welcoming and inclusive

We have embraced new initiatives, with children's work and dementia awareness

We have strong links with most of our local schools

We have a Social Programme with events such as croquet in the summer, film evenings and

the annual harvest supper.

The church has embraced the ACTS435 charity and has an advocate within the team

There is a strong desire to keep going and maintain the status quo (this could also be a

weakness)

And our weaknesses:

We have too many buildings with their associated costs

Our congregations do not travel well to other churches within the team when services are

not the home church

Not encouraging enough people to attend church

Area of unemployment and the town has a local foodbank

The liturgy may need reviewing to ensure it is open and welcoming and not frightening to

visitors.

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PARISH ACTIVITIES

We have an active Children & Family Worker who runs Parent & Toddler groups five days a week.

Our church halls are used regularly by other groups. At the Parish Rooms in Castleford there are three

separate dance classes meet at various time during the week. We are a leading Parish within the

Dementia Friendly field. We run a Memory Café on a Thursday Morning targeted at those with

Dementia and their carers. There is also a Brownie group that meets on a Tuesday evening.

St Michael’s Hall has three Parent & Toddler Sessions a week on Monday afternoon and Wednesday &

Friday mornings. There is a Dance class that meets on Wednesday and Thursday Evenings and a

Brownie & Rainbow Group that meets on a Tuesday evening. Wednesday afternoon our Friendship

Group meets and there is a Bingo Club that meets on Saturdays.

The Hall at Hightown hosts a weekly Parent & Toddler session on a Tuesday morning and is also home

to a group from Alcoholics Anonymous. We have a regular Film Evening most months of the year and in

the summer there is often Pimms and Croquet on the Lawn at St Michael’s on a couple of evening. All

churches do their bit in terms of Fundraising with Fayres at various times of the year. Hightown offers

Bacon Butty coffee mornings during the winter months which have proved very popular.

The Parent & Toddler Group has a number of annual events. There is a Pancake Party on Shrove

Tuesday, a Bonfire Party around bonfire night and a Christmas Nativity services followed by a Christmas

Party. These events have proved very popular, particularly the Nativity service which has seen St Paul’s

well filled.

The Parish supports a number of Charities throughout the year. Parishioners have collection boxes for

the Children’s Society which are collected twice a year. We hold our Annual Christingle Service and

raise money for the Children’s Society. Our Autumn fundraising at Harvest goes to Action Aid

supporting the supply of clean water in Africa.

Our Annual Charity giving amounts to around £2400 and we support Charities from the Additional

Curates Society, The Mission to Seafarers, our local Foodbank and the local Night Shelter at the Trinity

Methodist Mission.

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Benefice Information

Church Street, Castleford

Lumley Street, Hightown

St Michaels Close,

Smawthorne Pontefract Road,

Glasshoughton

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Benefice Information

ALL SAINTS, CASTLEFORD

The current church of All Saints is the third known building to stand on the site. It was built

between 1866 & 1868 and was funded by public subscription together with e Church Rate levied on

the parishioners. It is Grade Listed. The first record of a Church on the site was in 1178 under

the patronage of Henry de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract. Around 1370 it was rebuilt by John of Gaunt,

Duke of Lancaster. The patronage has remained with the Dukes of Lancaster since those times, the

current Duke being Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.

Or congregation is largely middle aged and retired with a handful of younger people and children.

We have an average Sunday morning attendance of around forty people. Our traditional worship is

centred on the Eucharist with catholic ceremonial using vestments and incense. Liturgical seasons

are carefully observed. The annual Civic Remembrance Service is held in the church.

We have a church hall next to the church on Bradley Avenue which has two floors. On the ground

floor there is a hall which is divided into two. On the first floor there is a dance hall with a fully

sprung dance floor. The dance hall is regularly used by various dance classes.

Day Time Service

Sunday 8.00am Low Mass

9.30am Solemn Mass

Tuesday 7.00pm Low Mass

Saturday 9.30am Low Mass

Mon-Thu 5.30pm Evening Prayer

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Benefice Information

The church was built, funded by public subscription and consecrated in 1864. We had a variety of

celebrations for its 150th Anniversary in 2014. It has always been a family oriented church with

close links to local Industry and Schools. As times have changed the links to local industry have

weakened but the links to schools have remained strong.

Local housing has changed dramatically over the last twenty years. Initially many of our local

residents were re-housed by the local council but they still maintained their links to church. More

recently new housing in our area has taken off at a tremendous rate and shows no sign of slowing

down. Over the past few years leafleting has been carried out and now our congregation is 50%

new people with Christmas services benefitting from full congregations of people from the new

housing. The fact that new people return to our church shows that our friendly and welcoming

approach is still working. The style of worship is described as “traditional”.

Our Church Hall was opened in 1990 and is central to our fundraising activities. It also hosts

regular Mother & Toddler groups.

Our recent Quinquennial has highlighted problems with our tower which houses three full circle

ringing bells and part of our roof. Being pro-active our congregation has already raised around

£30,000 towards these works. Further fundraising and applications for grants will take place when

the works are costed by our Architects.

ALL SAINTS, HIGHTOWN

Day Time Service

Sunday 11.00am Solemn Mass

Wednesday 7.00pm Low Mass

Mon-Thu (Alternate weeks)

9.00am Morning Prayer

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The church of St Michael and All Angels was consecrated in 1926. There have been changes over

the years and as with many other churches our congregation has reduced. There are some items in

the church which hold special memories for members of the congregation including the (heavy)

Processional Cross and the statue to the right of the altar in memory of departed members of the

Mothers’ Union. The church had a Sunday School until around 10 years ago.

The Church Hall is home to four of our Parent & Toddler Group sessions during the week. We

have a Friendship Group meeting weekly. The hall is hired by a dance group two evenings a week.

Other parish events take place at St Michael’s including Croquet evenings in the summer. Brownies

and Rainbows meet in the hall weekly. The hall is also used regularly for parties.

Our main fundraising activities are our fairs which are usually held two or three times a year.

ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS, SMAWTHORNE

Day Time Service

Sunday 11.00am Solemn Mass

Thursday 10.00am Low Mass

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St Paul’s Church is a very light and open space church. It is heated by gas central heating. It consists

of a small war memorial with chairs to the right side of the central altar. Still on the right this is a

small Lady Chapel which seats about 10 people. Further on is the Vestry. To the left side of the

church is the old Lady Chapel, with chairs. There is also the baptism font at the same side. The

centre of the church has a high altar and a lower altar. On entering the back of the church you

enter into a narthex with a toilet to the left and at the end a small kitchen. Upstairs is the organ in

the middle of a balcony.

The congregation is very small but most are willing to take part in activities. Most of those attending

Sunday services also attend midweek. There are two people who regularly do the readings. One of

them also leads the intercessions and serves. Incense is used at the Sunday Mass.

There is a friendship guild that meets once a month and a Rosary Group that meets on the 2nd

Monday of the month. A number of soup lunches have been done where there have been lunchtime

services. The church runs a number of fayres and coffee mornings during the year.

ST PAUL THE APOSTLE, GLASSHOUGHTON

Day Time Service

Sunday 9.30am Solemn Mass

Wednesday 10.00am Low Mass

Mon-Thu (Alternate weeks)

9.00am Morning Prayer

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Castleford Rectory

A spacious 4-bedroomed detached Rectory centrally positioned within the parish close to the local Fire &

Ambulance Stations. The nearest church is St Michael’s but all churches are within walking distance of The

Rectory. A study is provided off the entrance hall with a WC located opposite before going through

another door into the main accommodation. A Lounge, Separate Dining Room and Kitchen with separate

Utility room are to be found on the Ground floor with 4 Bedrooms and family bathroom on the first floor.

A reasonable sized garden at the rear of the property is mainly laid to lawn.

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Financial Information

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Financial Information (2)