Flower Festival of Hope featuring art from our local schools

The PCC of Christ Church, Sowerby Bridge has received £1668 from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, to help mark the Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Christ Church has received the funding from The National Lottery Community Fund’s Awards for All Programme, which provides almost £80 million of National Lottery funding to local projects across the UK every year. 

Christ Church’s Grade II listed building is a well-known landmark,  providing a calm oasis at the centre of the Sowerby Bridge conservation area. Through the faith and witness of its members it aims to be a welcoming space on the high street for anyone to visit.  It holds information on the  history of the town, and provides opportunities to explore the Christian faith. It seeks to serve all those who live or work in the parish, enjoys good links with local schools and community groups, including being an active member of the Sowerby Bridge Heritage Action Zone Cultural Network. 

This new grant from the National Lottery Community Fund will help us mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and our own bi-centennial year, with a “Flower Festival of Hope”.  The displays will reflect the Queen’s reign and her links to groups and events  in Sowerby Bridge’s past, featuring art work from our local schools.  It will showcase the talent in our community, using flowers, art and sculpture, at a time of restoration while new opportunities are being created in the action zone. 

Visit us at Wharf Street Sowerby Bridge. Admission is free, with a café offering cream teas and home baking available throughout the Bank Holiday weekend. 

Thursday 2nd June – Monday 6th June

Thur-Sat          10:00-15:00 
Sun                  12:00-15:00 
Mon                 10:00-12:00

Rev Canon Angela Dick says “In the Bible, a Jubilee is an occasion to remind us that God created everything. This is why we have chosen a flower theme for our exhibition. Children from our local schools already visit the building with their teachers as part of enriching the basic curriculum.  This grant will be used to explore what a Jubilee is, through free artist-led workshops, and we’d like to thank National Lottery players for their contributions to the cost of materials. We hope this event will encourage more people to visit their local parish church and be inspired by our community’s creativity.”  

June Harvey,  Co-ordinator of Memory Lane Café  Calderdale, congratulated Christ Church on receiving the grant, saying “Christ Church has helped several of our members improve their skills at their Digital Café, allowing them to keep in contact on line during lockdown. Technology is useful, but now we can meet in person again, everyone is looking forward to visiting  the  church to see the displays. A flower festival is a feast for the senses which you can’t experience on line, and the prospect of a cream tea and home baking is too good to miss!”