St. Matthew's Church. Wood Lane, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, United Kingdom LS7 3QF
0113 808 5798 stmatthewschurch1900@gmail.com
Please visit our Home page for our latest news about Services.
Join our online worship and access more resources
Keep in touch - we will continue to produce our weekly bulletin (an abridged, hard copy version of this page) available by ‘joining our mailing list’ from the link in the header above.
Please tell others about this!
OUR WEBSITE IS CONSTANTLY DEVELOPING -
If you have any suggestions for improving it, please contact either Fred Rowland or David Keighley.
PLEASE LET US KNOW
if you are aware of anyone from Church who is poorly, or become housebound or in need of some support, and especially those in hospital, and if you yourselves are going to hospital, so that the Pastoral Visiting Team can arrange for someone to visit. Please contact any of the staff team.
PARISH OFFICE
We're hoping to reopen the office in February. Please phone Sue Rusholme on 0113 8085798 for details.
TEDDY PRAISE
a short informal pram service for pre-school children and their parents/carers, followed by craft/play and refreshments. We are always pleased to welcome new families. In the meeting room at 10am every Wednesday in term time.
CHAPEL ALLERTON CHURCHES FELLOWSHIP
The next meeting is ‘With great pleasure – Rev'd. Mark Stennett’. Mark picks some of his favourite music and readings. Meet in the Methodist Centre on Thursday 20th January at 8pm. All are welcome. Refreshments are served following the meeting.
SNICKET SQUAD
Meeting again to litterpick on Saturday 29th January. Meet outside Church at 9.30am. Please join our WhatsApp group for last minute updates and to ensure we have equipment for you. Text LITTER to 07999 699200 (Sorry over 16s only unless by arrangement).
WE PEPARE TO WELCOME
Revd Simon Jones, his wife Helen and their family as they will soon be joining us. His licensing by Bishop Nick Baines will be held on Wednesday 16th February at 7pm. Please pray for Simon and his family as they prepare.
SIMON’ S COLLATION AND INDUCTION SERVICE
Would Church Members who wish to attend please add their name to the list at the back of Church by Sunday 30th January Places will be strictly limited.
COMMUNITY CAFÉ
It is hoped to recommence the community cafe possibly in March.
CTCAM CLIMATE GROUP TOP TIP
Save/re-use Christmas cards!
Keep them for next year to decorate the house and send Christmas wishes via email instead.
Or use the backs for shopping lists or cut them up into gift tags.
More ideas here.
Bronwen Fisher is also collecting Christmas cards to reuse. (There is a box at the back of Church).
WYDAN NEWSLETTER
View or download our latest Newsletter from the base of our Home Page
WYDAN have had the facilities of another house since mid-July and have organised a team of volunteers providing food shopping and limited support to the guests (Destitute Asylum Seekers) in Harehills.Four guests per house are supported on a rota basis approximately once per month by four teams (one of which is a combined team from St. Matthew’s & Chapel Allerton Methodist churches) backed by WYDAN. As the guests are living independently, the support consists of providing shopping on a given week (two visits) and providing bus fares & some spending money. A friendly face and listening ear are also important! If you are interested in helping in this way please contact Doug Pollock.In the meantime if you would like to contribute financially, payment can be made online here.
PAFRAS DONATIONS
The charity supporting destitute asylum seekers in Leeds are needing donations of:- Preserved foods - tins (tomatoes, pulses, veg, fruit and fish), rice, cereal, snacks, tea and coffee, Toiletries - shower gel, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, razors…
Please deposit these items in the green box inside front door at St. Matthew's Church
Money - see https://pafras.org.uk/support-our-work/ for details.
Clothing - drop off any weekday between 10am and 4pm at St Vincent’s Support Centre, 4 Berking Avenue, Leeds, LS9 9LF Tel. 0113 248 4126
Any queries please contact Doug Pollock. Many thanks for your help.
SUPPORTING GOOD MENTAL HEALTH
A booklet produced by the Church of England. You can read thirteen daily reflections written by Professor Chris Cook and accompanied by "have a go" habits developed by Ruth Rice.
The effects of mental health problems are huge. Nearly nine out of ten people with mental health problems have been affected by stigma and discrimination. Given the challenging times we are living in with coronavirus, the reflections in this booklet were updated and new resources written in March 2020. They seek to provide hope, reassurance and comfort. If you want to speak to someone, please visit the Mental Health Foundation website, which has lots of helpful resources and contacts. Visit www.mentalhealth.org.uk
OXFAM'S MOORTOWN SHOP
is currently looking for some fantastic new volunteers to join a great team. "Ideally, you’ll be able to provide 4-8 hours a week; but we're very flexible to people’s situations and exiting commitments!
Right now, we’ve got volunteer roles from Monday through Saturday, such as:
Till Operator, Donation and Pricing Volunteer, Online Shop Volunteer, Books & Music, Social Media, Shift Leader. Interested? Click here and type in Moortown. We’d love to hear from you!"
PLANNED GIVING
If you would like to contribute to the upkeep of our beautiful building and make it a place for worship, meetings, drama and music. Please help by making a regular payment to our scheme this is to help with our charitable giving and payment of the various bills we have to pay to keep this building in good working order, for all that seek to find God and also help our local community and those less fortunate.
Please use the attached form by clicking the donate button this will take you to our donation form which you can then fill in. And if you are a UK tax payer please consider gift aiding your contribution this will not affect your pocket, but the Tax Man will give us .25p for every £1.00 you give us. Thank you in advance and remember click donate.
RECYCLE YOUR ALUMINIUM CANS
in the cage in the Meeting Room car park. Money raised from the sale of the metal will be donated to charity. This is an ECO group initiative. Please join us as we strive to protect the planet for future generations.
"WALK IT RIDE IT"
is a collective city-wide movement towards healthier, greener travel in Leeds. The campaign is linked with Leeds City Council and encourages people to make one small change to a weekly journey and consider walking or cycling short attainable journeys such as the school run, the local shop and amenities, the park and eventually to and from work. See more at walkitrideit.com
THRIVE
Thrive Leeds is a partnership between four local churches which exists to work alongside
children and young people in the local area. We work with 0-18 year olds and their families, and love to give space for them to gather together, find support and friendship, feel valued and think through faith and things that are important to them. Have a look at our latest newsletter here.
We have a fantastic group of young people who gather on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and are looking to grow the team as we meet again after lockdown. Could you help by...
- welcoming and showing an interest?
- preparing and sharing snacks?
- joining in discussions about faith and life?
- showing young people they are valued?
Totally Tuesday is for 9-12s and meets from 7-8pm.
WOW is for those 13+ and meets from 8-9pm on Wednesdays.
Thank you for the support that you give Thrive - we really appreciate you and how you encourage us!
A couple of ways that you can continue to support us:
By praying - let us know if you would like to join the Thrive prayer WhatsApp group.
By nominating us for the Co-op Community Fund - we are excited that Thrive Leeds have been chosen as one of the local causes for the Co-op Community Fund this year! The money raised will go towards exploring youth work in Meanwood (including the area in St. Matthew's' Parish) - empowering young people to take the lead and shape how things develop, as we build on our current work. If you are a Co-op member, you could nominate ThriveLeeds as your favoured charity. You can do this on the app or by ringing 0800 0686 727. If you're not a member yet, please become one and then nominate us! Check this out.
View or download our latest Newsletter from the base of our Home Page
Contact Hannah Dey or your church's Thrive Trustee (Helen Copeland)
if you would like to explore this opportunity. See our Annual Report.
InterACT
We believe communities are important: they give us belonging, human contact and shape our identity. And we believe that we all have something to learn from one another. Getting to know one another is a pretty important part of community, so when we began as a project around 15 years ago, we were all about meeting other people - mainly through creative arts activities. Since then, we've expanded what we do a little, reflecting the needs and passions of our local area. However, the vision remains to bring people together from across the various neighbourhoods that make up and connect to Meanwood, so that we all have opportunity to share in what it offers, what we can learn from one another, and what we can give. As a partnership of 5 local churches, we seek spiritual wellbeing and fullness of life for all. And because we work alongside other agencies in the area, we are able to signpost people to other services where needed. Our Official Vision Statement:
Hearing Christ’s call to unity and recognising that we are stronger together than we are apart, the Partnership seeks to:
Work together to demonstrate God's love in word and actions
Serve and witness in Meanwood and beyond.
Work with other agencies in reaching out to our local communities.
BISHOP PAUL SLATER
is to retire at the end of January 2022. Please pray for him and his family as he prepares for retirement.
FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT
We want to share the light with all our community.
Our beautiful building already provides:
- Night Shelter for destitute asylum seekers.
- Performance space for youth musical theatre.
- Community Cafe.
- Bookable Meeting Room and Kitchen for local groups.
- Classical concerts with opportunities for amateur participation.
- Welcome for our local schools
as well as a place of Worship and Prayer.
When we can open up again, we would love to have enough light for all of this, but our current lighting system is quickly fading. Please consider making a donation if you can.
ROGER QUICK "Entertaining Saints"
Some of us remember that Revd. Roger Quick was curate of St. Matthew’s from 1996-2000. Since 2013 he has been Chaplain to St George’s Crypt, the homeless charity in Leeds which St. Matthew’s has supported for many years. Roger has written a book about life in the Crypt, called Entertaining Saints. He describes every day as being a mixture of laughter and tears. The new Archbishop of York has written the foreword, in which he describes Roger’s book as “Vivid and engaging”. Copies are available in paperback from publisher Darton, Longman and Todd ISBN 0232534896: or from St George’s Crypt Charity Shop on Street Lane. The illustrations are by the Leeds-based artist Si Smith.
HOME SCHOOLING (from Libby Kennedy)
If you, or anyone you know needs advice on home schooling primary school aged children, please get in touch. I can offer assessments, catch-up lessons, materials to work from, teaching tips for parents or just a chat for reassurance and ideas. Please contact Libby Kennedy.
DAILY HOPE
The Church of England has launched a free national phone line as a simple new way to bring worship and prayer into people’s homes. ‘Daily Hope’ offers music, prayers and reflections as well as full worship services at the end of a telephone line. The line – which is available 24 hours a day on 0800 804 8044.
FOODBANK
has a Collection Point at the Co-op in Chapel Allerton. It is a large blue plastic wheeled basket by the exit doors. Please can you leave an item or two from the following list. MILK (UHT OR POWDERED), LONG LIFE FRUIT JUICE, TINNED SOUP, PASTA SAUCES, TINNED-SPONGE PUDDINGS, TOMATOES & VEGETABLES, RICE PUDDING, CEREALS, TEA BAGS/INSTANT COFFEE, INSTANT MASHED AND TINNED POTATOES, TINNED: MEAT/FISH, FRUIT, SPAGHETTI.JAM, BISCUITS, SNACK BARS, CLEANING PRODUCTS, SOAP AND TOILET ROLLS.
Financial donations can be made by visiting https://leedsnorthandwest.foodbank.org.uk
IBY KNILL
If you would like to order Iby's book ‘The Woman with Nine Lives’ or her first book, now in it's tenth reprint, 'The Woman Without a Number', please search for Iby's publisher's website.
STRUGGLING WITH DEBT?
Free debt counselling for everyone from an award winning charity. This service has recently expanded to cover our area, with sponsorship from Chapel A Baptist Church. If you know anyone who would benefit from this expert service, please ask them to call free on 0800 328 0006.
EVENTS
If you would like to hear about upcoming social events at St. Matthew's (including Loose Women and Men on the Loose), please send your contact details to eventsatStMatthews@yahoo.com to be put on the mailing list. Thanks, Tina.
To submit a notice, please contact the Associate Priest Sue Rusholme
(St. Matthew's Church is not responsible for content of external websites)