Picture Gallery

Here are a few pictures that tell their own story.

Railway Children

Alexander and Emily at the NRM waiting for The Railway Children to start in the Signal Box Theatre

A+E Peasholme

At Peasholme Park, Scarborough

Games on the lawn

Alexander and Laura – games on the lawn

A+E Castle Museum

Alexander and Emily washing clothes in Kirkgate with Dolly White (Nanny) at York Castle Museum

Ceramic Poppies

Ceramic Poppies at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bretton Hall

A+E Hanningford

Wildlife at Hanningford Reservoir – Warning: Some of it is alive

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral from the refectory – the tallest spire in England

Looking up

Derek and Joan look up at Salisbury Cathedral Spire

Lighthouse at Flamborough Head

Flamborough Head Lighthouse, East Yorkshire

Claremont News 2014

Barrie and Joan setting off on their cycle ride

Three Days On Two Wheels

Years like this one test our faith and challenge our resilience. The hope and joy of Christmas reminds us not to trust in our own strength but in the strength of the God who came to the manger as Jesus Christ and endured the humility of the cross. So we pray for the very best for you as we celebrate and look ahead to a new year.

A Tough Year

 

Barrie turned sixty five this year and started to receive his state pension. But that’s not what made it a tough year.

Warwick and Joan

Warwick on the mend

Warwick’s health started to deteriorate and by the spring he was visibly losing weight and suffering from a tremor in his limbs. Diagnosis was a drawn out process of elimination. His anti-convulsants, nasty tummy bugs, and loss of appetite all came under scrutiny.

After losing a fifth of his body weight and becoming very lethargic he contracted pneumonia a few days after a barium swallow test. During the next month in hospital he sank very low, losing more weight, he was emaciated and frail. After leaving intensive care there was a very dark time when his lungs filled with more fluid and it seemed he wouldn’t pull through.

Lots of friends and family were praying for him. The hospital staff were brilliant. At a very critical time a physiotherapist persisted with Warwick and removed over a litre of fluid from his lungs. That was the turning point. We had never known before that physios saved lives – but in Warwick’s case, they certainly did. He slowly started to improve. Perhaps low level lung infection had been behind his demise all the time. He’d been aspirating; taking fluids and food into his lungs because he was failing to swallow properly. A not uncommon thing with people of his age (he’s 41) who have cerebral palsy.

At this stage he had to be strong enough to have a general anaesthetic to have a PEG tube fitted; that is a small feeding tube inserted through the wall of his stomach. In future all of his food, fluids and medication will be administered through this tube. Nil by mouth for the rest of his life.

He is still weak but back at his own home. He is slowly putting on weight and looking better. He now often greets us with a smile but is still unable to move his arms and legs. We hope physiotherapy will gradually help to him to more fully recover. He’s confined to bed for the time being and may not be well enough to come home to us for Christmas. He needs our prayers.

The overhead of going to see Warwick for a few hours each day has, at times, taken it’s toll on us too, but we have been sustained by God’s grace and our good friends, and we’re in good heart.

Tough for Restore

 

Housing graphicIn March this year ten of the tenants who live in the houses provided by the charity Restore had their housing benefit reduced. They were no longer able to pay their full rent, threatening the viability of the charity.

There followed a long wrangle with the council on their behalf and of those making subsequent claims. At one point we were on the brink of making twenty six formerly homeless people, homeless again.

The board of directors calculated we needed an immediate in ejection of £20,000 to keep going. In our board meeting we prayed for the money. After circulating a letter to our supporters and appearing in the local media we had exceeded our target by five thousand pounds. It was truly amazing to witness the generosity and goodwill towards the charity, mainly from individuals and churches in the city.

Negotiations with the benefits department of the council were fruitless. We had to go to a benefits tribunal by supporting one of or tenants in a sort of test case. We won and the council eventually agreed to reinstate all the benefits as a result. It had been a long and anxious process for everyone involved. It is sad to think that or expansion plans had to be put on hold and money diverted to pay the legal costs of the tribunal; costs that the council is under no obligation to meet despite them losing the case.

Newspaper article about the tribunal victory

From the York Press

We have just appointed staff to two new posts so that my joint founder, Ed, can take a sabbatical with his young family, in New Zealand. So next year is already presenting new challenges!

Tough at Church

St Michael le Belfrey in moonlight

St Michael le Belfrey, York

Barrie became a churchwarden at St Michael le Belfrey this year, a year that has seen some difficult changes in the church. A review of staffing brought some pain to the people working in the Parish Centre. There is still some misunderstanding surrounding these changes as two people leave the staff at the end of the year.

A decision to close one of the Sunday congregations has left a number families disenfranchised. Some have reluctantly left the church. Its been a sad and highly contentious time. There have been some heated meetings and its still not clear how things will work out.

These are just two of the things that have presented some tough times for the church wardens, PCC and clergy.

There have been some good times as well. Stories of salvation, healing and growth through the pain are being born out of experience. We have welcomed a new Associate Minister, Greg Downes, and enjoyed the close friendship of people in our two small groups.

So 2015 will be a challenge to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and to focus our mission on reaching out to the communities in which we live and serve.