Congratulations to St Luke's Deacon, the Revd Liz Carrington, who has been given an International Service Award by the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT), which represents physiotherapists in over one hundred countries.
Liz was International Development Adviser to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy until her retirement in 2010, and has travelled the world over many years in the course of her career in physiotherapy.
She was presented with a certificate and brooch at the 60th Anniversary Dinner of the organisation which held its international congress in Amsterdam last month.
The awards programme recognises "outstanding international contributions to the profession and/or global health by physiotherapists."
11 July 2011
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Eckersleys' long walk - plugged by the Rev Trev
Trevor Gant, preaching on the morning of the 29th May, mentioned the blog of John and the Revd Nancy Eckersley, currently walking from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise £10,000 for a Christian Aid project in Sierra Leone.
Nancy and John are old friends of St Luke's - Nancy spent time on a placement at St Luke's as part of her ordination training in the 1980s. John retired from full-time teaching a few years ago and Nancy retired as Vicar of Heslington a few months ago.
To keep up with where they are and what they're thinking about as they walk for a very good cause, click the link below.
Christian Aid Week ends with Aid, Fairtrade, Soup and Fashion
Sunday 22nd May's 10.00am service was built around a presentation by St Luke's Explorers about ways that our gifts to Christian Aid can help people in the Third World.
But coffee afterwards was even more different to the usual pattern - this week we moved seamlessly into a Souper Soup Lunch - with most of those who'd been at the service sharing a variety of home-made soups and bread rolls instead of a traditional Sunday lunch - and we were invited to give the difference in cost to Christian Aid.
Just to keep things interesting, Mark and Lynn Comer got us organised making paper bags out of newspaper and selling them to our own Fairtrade stall 'shopkeepers' at one Rupee for ten bags, so we could get the hang of how much work it takes in parts of India to pay for bread on the table.
And by way of entertainment afterwards we were treated to a fashion parade of fairly-traded clothing available in York, ably modelled by some of St Luke's finest and ably described by fashion icon Mark Comer.
If you missed it, there's a collection of photos with which you can blackmail the St Luke's member of your choice - proceeds to Christian Aid, of course) at the St Luke's Picasa album website.
22 May 2011
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More photos from February's Sunnydene Players production, "Happy Days Are Here Again"
More pictures are now available on at the Sunnydene Players' Picasa album website:
JOIN THE SUPER SOUP LUNCH TO HELP BOWL OVER POVERTY !
Sunday 22 May 2011
12.00 noon in the Church Hall As part of our commitment as a church to help put an end to poverty, we invite you to come together at the end of Christian Aid Week for this ‘hunger lunch’ and donate what you would have spent on Sunday dinner (and hopefully a bit more) to Christian Aid.
We will have a variety of excellent homemade soups on offer, plus it’s a great opportunity to spend time together and find out more about Christian Aid’s work.
Poverty is an outrage against humanity – it robs people of dignity, freedom and hope, or power over their own lives. Christian Aid has a vision – an end to poverty – and it believes that vision can become a reality. This is an opportunity for us to help – do try to join us.
It would be helpful if you could you let Lynn or Mark Comer (636295) know if you’re hoping to be there please, so we can judge quantities. Thank you.
It's the Cake Break - Saturday 21st May, 11.00am to 3.00pm in St Luke's Church Hall, Shipton Street - in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society... helping to find a cure!
Free entry - raffle - games - tea & coffee - homemade cakes and baking to buy - plus good company and fun...
Aimed at those aged from 4 to 11, Spring Adventure is two hours in St Luke's Church Hall, with activities and making things and learning some surprising stuff about God and his world.
Keep up-to-date with our family of 600 parish churches between the Humber and the Tees and from the A1 to the Yorkshire coast.
And don't forget, there's a lot more on the Diocese of York web site at www.dioceseofyork.org .
7 April 2011
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St Luke's shamed for 'poor taste' as Parlour plan collapses
St Luke's Faculty Petition for a 'Five Marks of Mission Tattoo Parlour' on Burton Stone Lane has been rejected by one vote in the York Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches (DAC).
The finely-balanced debate was lost following an impassioned one-hour speech by Nathaniel Boddy-Pearce, the DAC's expert on the work of York architect Walter Brierley, of which St Luke's is a prime example.
Branding St Luke's application a "disgrace" and "a shameful chapter," Mr Boddy-Pearce explained at length the significance of St Luke's architectural features, saving his highest praise for the plain side walls and austere rectangular windows.
"Brierley conceived these walls as a statement of the unadorned purity of God's creation," he said. "To attach to this church - surely the apex of Brierley's achievements - a tattoo parlour, dedicated to adornment and disguise, would be an outrage not merely against the memory of Walter Brierley, but against simple good taste."
Mr Boddy-Pearce (pictured, right) is the propietor of Nat's Tatts, the Yorkshire-based chain of tattoo and piercing centres, which plans to open a superstore in Burton Stone Lane next month.
1 April 2011
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Crucial Week for Faculty Application
St Luke's Parochial Church Council has met the Monday 28 March submission deadline for its fast-track Faculty Petition (that's the Church's version of Planning Permission) to the York Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches. A decision is expected on the Friday at the end of the week.
The plan to build the 'Five Marks of Mission Tattoo Parlour' onto the side of the church facing Burton Stone Lane emerged from the current Lent Course following the theme of the Five Marks adopted by the Anglican Communion in 1987.
"The Five Marks have caught on so well at St Luke's that we actually want to be marked out as 'mission-shaped' people," explains Vicar Steve Benford. "Our Christian Tattoo Parlour will offer a range of Marks of Mission and a choice of anatomical locations to wear them. You could get a genuinely Fresh Expression."
The plan was agreed following a visit by Archdeacon Emeritus of Gridlington, the Ven Armitage Shanks, who wears a tattoo of the Grand Order of St Humungous below his coccyx.
St Luke's-based tattoo designer Mark Comer and Churchwarden Mark Reilly will manage the Five Marks of Mission Tattoo Parlour and would be pleased to hear from three more Marks.
Those wishing to support the Faculty petition should attend the Diocesan Office for the DAC meeting on Friday morning, and make a substantial donation to the good cause of their choice.
27 March 2011
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What on Earth is the Church for? - St Luke's Lent Course 2011
This year we began Lent, the season of preparation for commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus, with a 7.00pm service of Holy Communion in church on Ash Wednesday, 9th March.
For those who wished, there was the opportunity for 'ashing' - to be marked with a cross of ash on your forehead as a reminder of our own mortality and dependence on God as we begin our journey through Lent.
At 7.30pm on each of the next five Wednesdays we'll be meeting to look at the question of what on earth is the Church for? We'll be thinking about five possible answers:
16th March: To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom - Steve Benford, Martin Sheppard and special guest John Young
23rd March: To teach, baptise and nurture new believers - Trevor Gant and Jan Hutchinson
30th March: To respond to human need by loving service - Steve Benford and A N Other
6th April: To seek to transform unjust structures of society - Andy Village
13th April: To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth - Liz Carrington
Everyone is welcome, and we'll try to make you think!
Keep up-to-date with our family of 600 parish churches between the Humber and the Tees and from the A1 to the Yorkshire coast.
And don't forget, there's a lot more on the Diocese of York web site at www.dioceseofyork.org .
11 March 2011
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St Luke's Annual 'Big Brew' breakfast
The smell of cooking bacon wafted down the Lane from St Luke's open doors on Saturday 5th March, as our contribution to Fairtrade Fortnight.
Many people came to sample the fairly-traded tea and coffee on offer as well to browse the fair trade stall with products on sale from countries all over the world. And it wasn't just bacon sanwiches to eat - there were biscuits and cakes on sale too.
Folk sat and chatted over a cuppa to the sounds of a string quartet for the first half of the morning, and later on a choir from Clifton Green School (with St Luke's Pathfinders group) sang popular songs and show favourites.
The bacon sandwiches and cakes made getting on for £100, which will be going to this year's Comic Relief fundraiser and the Fair Trade Stall made over £150, although the main idea of the stall is to show how good and varied the products available are.
A big thank you to all who took part to make the morning such a success.
Thank you to the Sunnydene Players for another romp through a world of song, dance, and... um... murder!
27 February 2011
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Happy Days Are Here Again!
The Sunnydene Players - the song-and-dance wing of St Luke's - are back from the 24th to the 26th February with a tantalising taste of the 1920s.
The show features songs from the tweties including classics like 'Baby Face', 'Let's Misbehave', 'When You're Smiling', and (of course) 'Happy Days Are Here Again'.
And in the middle there's a one-act murder mystery drama to get the little grey cells working hard.
Should be absolutely top-hole, what?
24th / 25th / 26th February 2011
7.30pm in St Luke's Church Hall
Shipton Street
£6 full (£4 concessions)
Tickets from Marjorie Sharp (655151) or on the door.
1 February 2011
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Sheila celebrates a CBE
Sheila Audsley, St Luke's member and headteacher of nearby Clifton Green Primary School for ten years until her retirement last summer, has been awarded the CBE in the New Year Honours.
Sheila was Head of the village school in Skelton in 2000 when she was asked to become Head of Kingsway Junior School, which was just about to amalgamate with Shipton Street Infants School. In 2001 the two schools became Clifton Green Primary School, but while the new nursery was being built Sheila used to run back and forth between the two sites!
She told the York Press: “I am absolutely delighted to receive such a prestigious award. This is fantastic news, but really I am just an ordinary person who did an ordinary job to the best of my ability.
“The news of the CBE honour seems unreal but it is absolutely wonderful that I have received recognition for my achievements over a very long career.
“However, without the support and hard work of the school community – the children, their parents, staff, governing body and local authority – my efforts would probably have not succeeded and so I am indebted to them all.”
Sheila will receive her CBE at Buckingham Palace later this year.
15 January 2011
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Remembering Haiti - and the St Luke's connection
It was a year ago - the 12th January 2010 - when a catastrophic earthquake devastated much of the Caribbean Republic of Haiti.
During the spring of 2010, St Luke's Vicar Steve Benford travelled there as part of a volunteer surgical team, working as an anaesthetist as he does for two days each week in Northallerton.
You can read the story of the earthquake and the year-long recovery effort on the BBC or other news web sites.
Click below to watch a new YouTube video about Steve's team - and look out for him standing up, sitting down... and lying on his sick bed!
How do you make a model to show how the birth and death of Jesus light up the world?
The answer, of course, is the Christingle - that Swedish idea that's now caught on all over the world.
At St Luke's there was the chance to make your own Christingle on Christmas Eve at the 6 o'clock crib service.
Lynn Comer, leading the service, began with a tribute and and a bunch of flowers for Pauline Wright (right), who has headed up the making of Christingles before the service for around thirty years before getting a well-earned breather this year.
Lynn's instructions were helped by her lovely assistants Martyn, Mark and James (left) making a scarily huge Christingle at the front of the church. The orange represents the world; a red ribbon around it shows how the blood shed by Jesus saves all people from sin; sweets remind us of the great gift God gave us in the birth of His son; and above all the candle shows how Jesus lights up the whole world.
The singing was accompanied once again by the extraordinary St Luke's Orchestra (right), re-assembled from scratch each year to show what an array of talent is to be found amongst St Luke's members, and of course the real highlight was the placing of the new-born Jesus in the manger and the singing of 'Away in a Manger' by candlelight by the children gathered in front of the crib.
The end of Advent, the season of waiting, is in sight, and once again St Luke's Christmas celebrations began with the York City Football Club Carol Service, held on the 17th December for our next-door neighbours at Bootham Crescent.
It's the moment of truth for the church's four-part choir, with the first public performance of the Christmas pieces they've been learning for weeks.
St Luke's shares a photographer with City in the person of Mark Comer, but after the service the tables were turned on him when his camera was grabbed by City Chairman Jason McGill! Mark's the one in dapper collar and tie.
"The picture shows players and City staff who read the various lessons," explains Mark, "plus Steve who led the service and the Revd Chris Cullwick who provided the Christmas message. I did the first reading, but don't think I'll be lining up on Boxing Day with the other City players unless they need a speedy winger (I could manage a couple of sprints per game)."
"The City players are the three on the back row (from the left) Jonathan Smith, Jamal Fyfield and Michael Gash, and the one knelt next to me is Duane Courtney. The other three are involved with the club - Paula Stainton (Community co-ordinator), Rob Batty and Robert Havercroft (matchday announcer)."
It's a great get-together each year, and an enjoyable way to begin the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
23 December 2010
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The Bright Light Adventure
On the afternoon of 31st October between 4 and 6pm, 17 children met together in St. Luke’s Church to have an afternoon of fun based around the theme of Light.
They took part in a number of craft activities making Chinese lanterns, firework pictures, shadow puppets and stained glass windows, did some baking making stained glass window biscuits and tried their hand (or rather mouth) at stay-dry apple bobbing.
There was also an opportunity for all of them to follow a light labyrinth through the church thinking about how God created light, how the wise men followed a light to find Jesus and how Jesus is the light of the world.
We all had tea together and then watched a fireworks display.
Everyone had a great time and we are all looking forward to the next adventure.
5 November 2010
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St Luke's Children's Activity Week 2010
Towards the end of August about a hundred children aged from four to eleven descended on St Luke's, and then ascended into space on the good ship Discovery commanded by the accident-prone Captain Tempest.
The Captain's loyal crew were on hand to help him, of course, although sometimes they managed to make matters worse as the Discovery lurched through space, coming across a list of monsters and maniacs, mishaps and mayhem.
And yet, somehow, amongst all the weird things discovered by the Discovery, there was the story of God's love for all the people - big and little - he has created, along with all the other wonders of the universe.
Activity Week is a huge project, taking over the whole of the church and church hall and involving dozens and dozens of St Luke's members to do just about anything you can imagine - and some unimaginable things besides.
This includes welcoming and looking after children, building and making things, keeping people of all ages fed and watered, dreaming up plot lines, acting, making monsters, storytelling, leading games, moving tons of furniture and other 'stuff', playing music, singing songs, arranging electrics for all sorts of things, and so on, and so on...
And at the end of it? Well, apart from the help we've given to many hard-pressed parents keeping their children entertained through the long summmer holiday, we've shown many children and adults that St Luke's really is their church, even if they don't come much - and we've helped build up the community of St Luke's through this huge shared enterprise.
Thanks be to God for all that goes into Activity Week, and all that comes out of it: all the things we know about, and all the things we don't.
Sunday 22nd May's 10.00am service was built around a presentation by St Luke's 
But coffee afterwards was even more different to the usual pattern - this week we moved seamlessly into a Souper Soup Lunch - with most of those who'd been at the service sharing a variety of home-made soups and bread rolls instead of a traditional Sunday lunch - and we were invited to give the difference in cost to 
And by way of entertainment afterwards we were treated to a fashion parade of fairly-traded clothing available in York, ably modelled by some of St Luke's finest and ably described by fashion icon Mark Comer.
"Brierley conceived these walls as a statement of the unadorned purity of God's creation," he said. "To attach to this church - surely the apex of Brierley's achievements - a tattoo parlour, dedicated to adornment and disguise, would be an outrage not merely against the memory of Walter Brierley, but against simple good taste."
This year we began Lent, the season of preparation for commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus, with a 7.00pm service of Holy Communion in church on Ash Wednesday, 9th March. 
The 
The smell of cooking bacon wafted down the Lane from St Luke's open doors on Saturday 5th March, as our contribution to 
How do you make a model to show how the birth and death of Jesus light up the world?
Lynn Comer, leading the service, began with a tribute and and a bunch of flowers for Pauline Wright (right), who has headed up the making of Christingles before the service for around thirty years before getting a well-earned breather this year.
Lynn's instructions were helped by her lovely assistants Martyn, Mark and James (left) making a scarily huge Christingle at the front of the church. The orange represents the world; a red ribbon around it shows how the blood shed by Jesus saves all people from sin; sweets remind us of the great gift God gave us in the birth of His son; and above all the candle shows how Jesus lights up the whole world.
The singing was accompanied once again by the extraordinary St Luke's Orchestra (right), re-assembled from scratch each year to show what an array of talent is to be found amongst St Luke's members, and of course the real highlight was the placing of the new-born Jesus in the manger and the singing of 'Away in a Manger' by candlelight by the children gathered in front of the crib.
The end of Advent, the season of waiting, is in sight, and once again St Luke's Christmas celebrations began with the York City Football Club Carol Service, held on the 17th December for our next-door neighbours at Bootham Crescent.
And yet, somehow, amongst all the weird things discovered by the Discovery, there was the story of God's love for all the people - big and little - he has created, along with all the other wonders of the universe.
And at the end of it? Well, apart from the help we've given to many hard-pressed parents keeping their children entertained through the long summmer holiday, we've shown many children and adults that St Luke's really is their church, even if they don't come much - and we've helped build up the community of St Luke's through this huge shared enterprise.
