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During the pandemic Claire* began befriending through the charity Refugee Council. She was paired with a lady who had a young child and would phone her regularly. At first Claire was unsure whether she was saying the right thing, or whether the lady wanted to talk to her, but this changed over time and Claire was later invited to the child’s birthday party.  At the time of the Football Cup, Claire was challenged by her refugee for not wholeheartedly supporting the English team! Later one of the male refugees appeared on zoom proudly wearing an England top. Claire has also been able to help withRead More →

Sam was moved to get involved with the refugee collection at St James Woodside after seeing the photo of drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi – an image which made global headlines in 2015. Sam took the lead in sorting donations. Everything was organised and itemised, using lists given by the charities. A collection was made and sent to Calais (through Care4Calais) and another directly to people fleeing ISIS (through Samara’s Aid Appeal). Samara’s Aid Appeal then requested that people put together bags containing basic items and gave a list of what was needed. Volunteers made up dignity bags containing sanitary items and smiley bags containingRead More →

“This is not about the food” Cliff has been attending Lister Hill Baptist Church for 30 years. A year after retiring from his job in IT, Cliff felt God was calling him to give up everything he was involved in at church to make space for something new. Cliff started volunteering with Leeds North and West Foodbank as a driver, before taking on the role of logistics manager. This began as 20 hours a week but with the pandemic became full time. His role included managing the warehouse and coordinating volunteers and the collection and drop off of food. Cliff says this was God’s planRead More →

  The Horsforth Shed was officially opened on Sunday 25th July 2022. The Shed has now got regular groups in on Thursdays and Friday’s. To find out more contact Richard Hamlyn on horsforthshed@gmail.com     Report of the opening of the Shed                     Over the last 2 years, led by Pete Gillions volunteers have transformed the interior and exterior of the the old and rather dilapidated old Scout Hut at St James.  Whilst Covid has slowed down progress and continues to mean not everything will be perfectly in place, a visit to the shed will showRead More →