Serving our town in times of joy and sorrow

Rev Canon Hilary Barber, Vicar of Halifax Minster

AT the end of November, the ancient Parish Church of Halifax marked the tenth anniversary of its designation as one of the Church of England’s new Urban Minster’s here in the North of England.

Back in 2008 the United Kingdom had just experienced one of the worst economic crashes in living memory, and felt none more so by Halifax, with its recent past in financial services for over 40 years. Since then both the town and borough, alongside the Church of England and the Minster, have seized this window of opportunity to remodel itself, looking to be more diversified and resilient for an unknown future.

Simply by changing the name of the parish church to Minster, a new era dawned in how the worshipping community viewed itself, and how the outside world viewed the Minster.

I saw the window of opportunity to reboot the Minster and to refocus the Church of England’s place within the heart of the ancient medieval parish, some 124 square miles which today makes up the Borough of Calderdale as we know it. Internally we have spent the last ten years exploring our

Benedictine roots. The Minster holds the town and the borough up in prayer before God three times a day, and that remains a powerful thing in times of plenty and in times of crises. When the town celebrates something special, we have a service in the Minster with music, dance and drama; when tragedy strikes, it’s the Minster where we gather to weep and cry.

Hospitality to visitors and hosting events in the Minster has been one of the big changes. Certainly, since the re-opening of the Piece Hall and more recently following the BBC production of Gentleman Jack, recognising the life of Anne Lister, who was baptised, worshipped, and is buried in the Minster, we have seen a huge increase in visitor numbers. This has meant a completely new approach to how we welcome visitors and understanding how we can improve our visitor experience. Recruitment of new welcomers, trained by Lloyds Banking Group First Customer Service Team, the introduction of the Minster shop, newly trained Minster guides, new opening hours, Visit England Kite mark, engagement with the Calderdale Tourism Board, Welcome Yorkshire, new website, social media activity, and on and on it continues to drive us forward.

Making the building fit for purpose for the 21st century continues to take up much of my time and energy: we have a wonderful new floor at the front of the Nave, providing a flexible space for concerts, exhibitions, corporate entertainment, and much more besides. In medieval times it was the town square, with the weekly market, administration of law and order, political meetings, as well as worship. I’m delighted to say that we have refound this vision in serving the town and borough by hosting many events that not only increase our footfall but help us pay our way. When I arrived, I inherited some £50,000 year on year deficit and now we are heading for a small surplus three years running – what a turnaround in over ten years! We are still trying to persuade the Amenities Societies to allow us to have some proper toilets - we haven’t given up yet and we’re now working on a conservation management plan to help take us forward into the future.

The ministry of Halifax Minster goes well beyond the town and borough. The Minster joins the other minsters and abbeys across the nation of a huge heritage trail of medieval religious buildings, as one of the premier major churches in Yorkshire and the new Diocese of Leeds. Only last week did I return with the Mayor and other civic leaders from our twin town of Aachen, in Germany, on my eighth visit. Last year as we marked the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI we entertained church, civic, and military leaders from Aachen, as they marched through the streets of Halifax on Remembrance Day – never mind Brexit, Halifax has an international role to play in reconciliation and the healing of old wounds, as we try to create a kinder, more forgiving sort of world in which to have our families and to build strong resilient friendships.

As the Minster looks to the next ten years, I hope that not only will we become more sustainable in terms of our ministry to the town and borough, and to the nation and internationally, but that we too will play our part with all our stakeholders in making Calderdale the best borough in the North: the best place to live in, where people can have a good quality of life, education, health, and work and leisure.

Now it’s December, and thousands are pouring into the Minster for Christmas services and events. This year saw some 3,000 visitors to the Christmas Tree Festival, and we are gearing up for another few busy weeks up to Christmas Day. As we look to the next ten years, we do so in hope, that the God who has blessed and watched over the town for the last 900 years, will continue to do so, and that we can ensure that Halifax Minster continues to serve the town and borough through times of joy and sorrow. The Minster belongs to us all – it’s the people’s memory palace, where we meet together for some wonderful and extraordinary occasions, at the beginning of life, at the end of life, and many times in between!

Britain.

Finally, let’s not be too hard on Jeremy Corbyn. He managed to deliver a gift wrapped Brexit in one day. In future years we may be putting up a statue in his honour.

Colin Richardson, Halifax

EDUCATION

In a clear message to the newly elected Government, more schools in Calderdale are once again displaying banners that highlight the school funding crisis.

School funding is a priority that must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

The money proposed by the Government before the election is clearly not enough to address the years of underfunding.

It merely results in spending per pupil being no higher in 2022-23 than it was 13 years earlier.

Calderdale Against School

Cuts will be closely monitoring the actions of the recently elected MPs for Calderdale. Sue McMahon, Calderdale

Against School Cuts