If you are a Morrisons shopper in Waterloo you may be familiar with the Community Giving Tree.

It gives shoppers the opportunity to support a food bank at Christmas. And we're thrilled that SMASH Food Share has been chosen as this year's recipient. 

​You'll see the tree as you enter the store. Just pick up a bauble and pay for it at checkout. Morrisons will then pass on the whole donation to our Food Share. 

In January, we'll be given all of the money to spend in store. This will give us a great start to the New Year and enable us to re-stock our empty shelves. 

Please support the Giving Tree if you can and share this good news with your family, friends and neighbours. 

We invite everyone to join us for the Festival of All Saints at All Hallows' Church this weekend.

On Saturday, November 29. there will be a coffee morning from 10am - noon. This forms part of the 500th anniversary celebration of our magnificent church ceiling.

At 10.30am on Sunday, Parish Eucharist will be celebrated by the Bishop of Leeds. Rt Rev Nick Baines. We look forward to welcoming you all.

As we mourn the death of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, we give thanks for her faithful service and commend her into God’s keeping.

​We pray, too, for her family at this time of deep sorrow, that they will know God’s comfort and peace.

All Hallows' and St Lucius' churches will be open this weekend with a book of condolence for quiet prayer and lighting of candles:

All Hallows'
Friday, September 9: 10am - 6pm.
Saturday: 10am - 4.30pm.

St Lucius'
Friday: 10am - 12 noon and 4pm - 6pm.

The bells will toll today at both churches at midday.

On Sunday, St Michael & St Helen will now join with All Hallows for their 9.45am service.

We will also hold a special service during the period of national mourning. We will keep you updated with more developments, and further announcements will be made at Sunday services.

On Saturday we said goodbye to Anadelle, centre left, who has now finished her part-time role as Parish Administrator to take up a full time post in a local college. 

This is wonderful news for Anadelle, but we will miss her greatly in the parish office – her friendliness, efficiency, and her ability to solve any problem! 

However, she is still a part of our parish community, and we'll still be able to see her in church. 

The parish team was able to enjoy a lovely dinner with her at the Rose and Crown in Thurstonland to thank her for all she's given to our parish over these past three years.

​All Hallows' will open to visitors for a weekend in September as part of the National Heritage Open Days Festival.

England's largest festival of history and culture, which involves thousands of volunteers and organisations, brings people together to celebrate their heritage, community and history

The event will give visitors the chance to explore our church, to study the elaborate 500-year-old ceiling and to visit the bell tower, which houses one of the finest peals in Yorkshire.

Event Times: 
Saturday, September 10: 10am to 4.30pm. 
Sunday, September 11: 2pm to 4.30pm.

Roof picture by Fran Wilson.

We are seeking a calm, reliable and efficient person with excellent IT and communication skills to become our church administrator.

We are also looking to recruit a caretaker for two of our churches: All Hallows' and St Michael and St Helen's.

Full details and application forms can be found on our Jobs page.

It may be summer, but in Farnley Tyas thoughts are turning to Christmas. There's an ambitious plan to stage Charlies Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol in St Lucius' church. 

The idea for this dramatised version with music comes from actor-director Nick Wade, who lives in the village. He's looking for people to take part and a meeting in church to test interest in the project attracted nearly 30 people from across the town.

Afterwards, he said: "Delighted with the turnout to the interest night. So much enthusiasm and very kind, generous offers of help and support. I'm incredibly humbled by the community spirit which I see through the church, the village and its surrounds.

"While we had a good number of keen performers, we could probably do with a handful more. So if you fancy treading the boards, please contact me: nwandenk@hotmail.co.uk or on 07985785814. Experience is not required.

"A sincere thanks to the church for hosting and providing refreshments for the launch of this exciting venture!"

The proposed performance dates are November 30 and December 1 & 2 and rehearsals will be in church on Mondays from September 12.

Nick's passion for theatre and performing began at school and continued at university where he was involved in drama and musical societies and made his debut as a director. 

He's acted with Wakefield Little Theatre and the Crigglestone Community Theatre Group and in 2019 he staged an acclaimed outdoor production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Farnley recreation ground.

Off stage, he works for the NHS as Deputy Director of the National Intensive Support Team.

An Australian visitor called at the churchyard during the most recent tidy-up session at St Lucius' Church. Rob is from Brisbane and his UK walking tour brought him to Farnley Tyas.

He was able to admire the work done by, from left, Rachel, Cath, Lee and his son Cameron. As part of his Duke of Edinburgh award, Cameron has made boxes for the hedgehog hotels which tie-in neatly with our Eco-Church project.

​Also helping was Maureen Barraclough and Monica, who took the picture.

Our vision for an Eco Church in Farnley has taken another stride with news that St Lucius' has achieved a silver award.

The aim of Rocha’s Eco Church scheme is to celebrate the ways that church communities have been engaging with caring for the earth as a key part of our Christian faith.

Kathryn Hinchliff, our project lead said: "This is such an incredible achievement in less than a year and is testament to the vision and hard work of you all and our many supporters.

"A Rocha commended the Eco page on our web site, so they obviously check up on us – as well as accepting our self-assessment.

"This is a big milestone, so I have taken the liberty of purchasing a silver award plaque for the church as it may be a while before we can apply for ‘gold’ and it will, I believe, help us to keep going.  

"You are a fantastic team to work with, and I realise that some of the changes we have made, and will have to make in the future, have been and will be very challenging.

"But your willingness to accept change in order to make a big difference in reducing our carbon footprint and sustaining our bit of God’s creation has been  impressive and hopefully will have a positive impact across our village and the Parish.

"So it's onwards and upwards to the next level where some difficult decisions await us but I feel confident that we are up to the task. Once again thank you all so much."

St Lucius' is working towards being an eco-friendly church and a team of gardeners has done much already: tidying, clearing overgrown areas and putting up bird and bat boxes in the churchyard.

Volunteers are welcome to join us for another tidy-up on Saturday, July 9, from 10.30am to 12.30. Please bring gardening tools, strong gloves and a wheelbarrow if possible.

It's great fun, and your reward, apart from a tidier churchyard, will be bacon or tomato butties with tea and coffee.