Tag: CMS Link Church

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CMS Link Visit to Hurworth, Co. Durham

Catherine Lee

Right on the north bank of the River Tees, on the border between Co. Durham and N. Yorkshire, sits the rather lovely village of Hurworth-on-Tees ~ stretching out along a long winding road that seems to go on forever!  Charming cottages lie on one side of the road, great big imposing houses line the other side, with the village green covered in daffodils, and the churchyard full of yellow primroses.  It’s beautiful! At one end of the village green is Hurworth Methodist Church @ Clervaux Café, THE place to have coffee and cake during the week, including Saturdays…. lovely atmosphere and a great … Continue reading CMS Link Visit to Hurworth, Co. Durham

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CMS Link Visit to St. Thomas Church, Batley, W. Yorkshire

Catherine Lee

Some churches just look kinda amazing on the outside – but then are a major disappointment when you get in.  Well, they’re often ancient, beautiful, calm, lovely, but oh so dark, oh so huge, oh so impractical….. St. Thomas Church, Batley is the opposite.  Huge, dark, imposing and grim on the outside, especially on a rainy day.  But get inside and it’s a whole different world.  No pews, they’re long gone.  It’s all chairs.  And carpet.  And the best thing is the big east window.  RED, so very RED!  And the choir stalls have little red lamps, matching the red … Continue reading CMS Link Visit to St. Thomas Church, Batley, W. Yorkshire

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CMS Link Visit to Dewsbury, W. Yorkshire

Catherine Lee

From mills to minster ~ Dewsbury used to be famous for its mills, now it’s the minster that has pride of place in the town.  Actually there’s been a place of worship there ever since about AD 627 when Paulinus came to visit and soon the ancient minster parish covered 400 miles all across northern England…. These days Dewsbury has a large Asian community, mostly Muslim, and Dewsbury Minster is the designated Christian Interfaith Centre for the area, so lots of groups come to learn about the Christian faith.  In the mid 1990’s the minster was completely reorganized – the east … Continue reading CMS Link Visit to Dewsbury, W. Yorkshire

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CMS Link Visit to Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield

Catherine Lee

Fantastic church, wonderful people, and a whole lot of lovely new Chinese friends! My links with Huddersfield go back years and years, and Holy Trinity Church, just north of the centre of the town, has always been really supportive of CMS ~ and of me too! When my good friends Pam and Nigel moved to Holy Trinity from Heighington, Co. Durham in the late 1980’s, and there I was, preparing to join CMS and go to Tanzania, Holy Trinity offered their support – and hey presto, they’re still supporting me all these years later.   Actually Pam and Nigel have been away … Continue reading CMS Link Visit to Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield

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CMS Link Visit to Beccles, Suffolk

Catherine Lee

Just in case you think Cambridge is about as far east as it gets in England, well you ain’t bin nowhere yet!  Two long hours drive even further east from Cambridge and just before you hit the sea, you come upon the lovely little country town of Beccles, sitting on the River Waveney, at the gateway to The Broads, a sailing paradise of rivers and lakes in Norfolk and Suffolk. Beautiful! Not that I went to the Broads this weekend, in fact only as far as Beccles itself, passing the lovely Billingford Windmill at Scole, Norfolk en route…. And so to … Continue reading CMS Link Visit to Beccles, Suffolk

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CMS Link Visit to Gislingham, Mellis, Thornham Magna and Thornham Parva, Suffolk

Catherine Lee

Yep, deepest rural Suffolk, full of quaint pink cottages, gorgeous thatched churches, woodland glades white with snowdrops, vast rolling fields stretching to the horizon, and oh, so quiet all day, and all night.  Idyllic. Almost perfect.  But not quite!  Just don’t mention broadband speeds or mobile phone signals, or the lack thereof.  See a person perched on top of a log-pile in a far corner of their back garden or leaning out of their bathroom window?  Yep, they’re trying to send a text message or phone the neighbours.   Ah yes, the reality of life in the middle of nowhere! … Continue reading CMS Link Visit to Gislingham, Mellis, Thornham Magna and Thornham Parva, Suffolk

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CMS Link Visit to St. Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne, Darlington

Catherine Lee

The oldest church in Darlington, Co. Durham, so the sign says outside St. Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne, c.1125 ~ that’s pretty old!  But of course in those days, Haughton-le-Skerne was not part of Darlington, but a separate village to the N.E. of the town.  Darlington kind of burst onto the world stage with the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, and it’s been a big bustling industrial place ever since. St. Andrew’s Church is at the heart of a huge parish, covering Haughton, Whinfield, Red Hall and Springfield.  Definitely a happening place ~ and a VERY happening church, praise … Continue reading CMS Link Visit to St. Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne, Darlington

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CMS Link Visit to Sadberge Eat ‘N Meet!

Catherine Lee

Ah, now that’s just my cuppa tea ~ Eat ‘N Meet at Sadberge Village Hall, each first Tuesday of the month, and a great outreach of Sadberge Church! Sadberge apparently means ‘flat-topped hill’ but I always think it should be renamed, and the ‘sad’ become ‘happy’, thus Happyberge, to reflect the lovely atmosphere in the village! There’s flowers in tubs hanging from all the railings on the streets, pots of flowers around the trees, a village garden in action, and just a general feeling of being a village well-cared-for and well-loved.  Great place! Sadberge is on the A66 just east … Continue reading CMS Link Visit to Sadberge Eat ‘N Meet!

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CMS Link Visit to St. John’s Church, Neville’s Cross, Durham

Catherine Lee

Never judge a book by its cover, nor, dare I say it, a church by it’s outside ha ha!  Just cos a church don’t have no steeple or tower, even in a country full of ’em and in a city with one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the whole world, well it don’t mean nothing! And so it was that I’ve just spent a wonderful weekend with the very delightful people of St. John’s Church, Neville’s Cross, Durham City.  What a welcome! An amazing congregation ~ all so lovely, so welcoming, so interested in everything.  But preaching there is not … Continue reading CMS Link Visit to St. John’s Church, Neville’s Cross, Durham