Welcome from St John's Wardens
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Churchwarden at St. John the Baptist, Knaresborough. A Churchwarden is a lay official (not ordained as a clergy) in a parish church of the Church of England. Holders of these positions are members of the Parochial Church Council (PCC). The role of Churchwarden is extremely varied but generally involves management, maintenance, and ministry. The rights and responsibilities of Churchwardens are laid down in Church (canon) Law. And as with most roles within a parish, this is a voluntary (unpaid) position. A person needs to be elected as a churchwarden. The elections are carried out every year at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting. It is possible for a church warden to be re-elected but they are required to take at least one year off after a period of standing for six years. Only after this rest period can an individual be considered for re-election.
Richard Boddy
Richard lived in Harrogate until his marriage to Susan when they settled in Knaresborough. He loves St John’s. Like any father, one of the highlights of his life was giving his daughter’s hand in marriage. This was especially so since the wedding was in St John’s. Richard says that he could not have wished for anything more. “Seeing Helen marry Alastair in our wonderful church with the choir singing and the bells pealing as we emerged from the West Door on a beautiful September day-we were truly blessed.” Richard takes a keen interest in gardening, walking and his grandchildren. When they are desperate, he plays billiards for the Home Guard (no jokes about Dad’s Army please). On leaving school he worked as a lab assistant for ICI and for the last 30 years he has worked a statistician for a small training and consultancy company based in Knaresborough.
Sharon Foster
I am a Yorkshire lass born and bred in Sheffield. My father’s family were connected with the Sheffield Assay Office from the 1800’s. From an early age I attended, with my brother, St. Thomas’s Church in Crookes, both of us singing in the church choir for a number of years. We were also confirmed there. I continued singing in choirs as a student during my teacher training at college in Lincoln. A most memorable occasion was the opportunity to sing in the St. Matthew Passion in Lincoln Cathedral. (Also memorable because I had my arm in plaster having broken my wrist playing hockey!!) Although originally trained as a Primary school teacher, during a 40 year career I have also taught in both Secondary and Further Education. In the 70’s I took a break from the classroom to work in Youth Services which is what brought me to Knaresborough in 1975. Retirement a few years ago provided the opportunity to spend more time with friends, develop interests and become more involved in church life at St. John’s. Time spent as a sidesperson has been a good way of getting to know the congregation better and being a member of the DCC and PCC to understand the workings of the parish! One of the things which drew me to regular worship at St.John’s some 10 years ago was the music. For me music is a wonderful way of expressing our faith through singing hymns and responses and our services at St.John’s are particularly enriched by having one of the best church choirs in the country (Did you see Songs of Praise in 2010?) (if not you can check it out by clicking on the following link http://www.knaresboroughanglicanteam.org.uk/songs-of-praise-comes-to-knaresborough/ (ed) Becoming a church warden has proved to be both a steep learning curve in what goes on behind the scenes, (including knowing more now about drains ….) and a real privilege to be involved in so many different aspects of church life.
David Cardani
As a Roman Catholic from Reading, it was with much apprehension that I started attending St Johns on a regular basis. I chose St John’s church as I had married into a Church of England family and baptised both my children in my wife’s Cheshire parish. I was openly welcomed by the congregation here in Knaresborough and I have found my inner peace and strength.
It wasn’t long before Jacob joined Sunday school too and the Sunday School teachers, June and Katie invited Jacqui, my wife, and I to assist. We had lego hospital buildings, conker fights, arts and crafts and nativity plays teaching the children stories from the bible. Then with other Sunday School leaders Caroline and Louise we planted vegetable seeds on the terrace, created a Christmas stained glass window and played bible story games. This year has seen the Sunday School camping trip at Brearton where we went on a treasure hunt, sang songs round the camp fire, had stories with Horlix, toasted marshmallows and watched the stars shining bright in the clear night sky.
Our Deputy Churchwardens include: Sarah Emsley
Craig Feather-More
Yorkshire is said by many to be “God’s own country”. Although it is a claim that is sometimes made on behalf of other counties, no-one could be left in any doubt about the entitlement of our particular corner of Yorkshire after they have sat on a bench at Knaresborough Castle and gazed out over the truly beautiful Nidd Gorge. It is appropriate, therefore, that an integral part of this extraordinary view is St. John’s Church, as if watching over a unique landscape that God must surely have created. When we moved to Knaresborough in May 2007, our eldest daughter, Olivia, initially attended Manor Infants School which soon became part of what is now St, Johns’ C of E Primary School. Both Olivia and our younger daughter, Amelia, attend the School. There were obviously strong ties between the School and the Church which have subsequently grown even stronger. That connection is the primary reason why we came to St. Johns, but there are also a number of additional aspects that may have subconsciously, at least, influenced us to come in the first place, including its history, location, beauty, as well as the significance of the Church in the wider community. Before we moved to Knaresborough, we attended York Minster and we would have found it difficult to adjust to a Church without a choir. St. Johns is very fortunate in that regard. During the four-and-a-half years that we have attended at St. Johns we have formed many associations and some important friendships with members of the congregation. At the same time, we have found ourselves moving further towards the centre of Church life, by virtue of our participation in various activities. This really began with my wife, Janet, doing readings, and subsequently with my involvement as a member of the PCC and as a Church Warden. The Girls regularly attend Sunday School - as well as Brownies, which, coincidentally, takes place in the Church Hall! All of this has led to St. Johns becoming an integral part of all our lives.
Lynn Curl
I grew up in the mining town of Thorne, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Both of my grandfathers were miners at local collieries. I attended St Nicholas Church Thorne from an early age and was confirmed there when I was eleven. Throughout my time there I was privileged to be guided by a most wonderful lady, Deaconess Bridget Smith. I was married at the church in 1979, having been away at Leicester University where I met my husband, Matt. Following our marriage I moved to Harrogate where Matt was already working. I had started my articles with a law firm in Leeds about three months before we married and stayed there after I qualified as a solicitor, leaving in 1983. During this time, we frequently went back to Thorne to visit my family and I continued to worship there.
After our two sons were born I attended the services for mothers which were held at one church or other in the town and the boys were baptised, one at Holy Trinity and one at St John’s. I started to attend St John’s 8am service regularly. That and evensong, which I used to attend regularly in Thorne, are my favourite services. I like the stillness of Prayer Book services and the language used. As a family we are members of the Prayer Book Society. I still attend 8am as I now have to be back at Church for 9.45am to ring the bells. I started ringing about 7 or 8 years ago after Matt persuaded me to join him. He had learnt to ring as a child at his home church, also St Nicholas, in Harpenden. He had gone back to ringing just before the millennium during a recruitment drive for ringers. Both boys tagged along with him and also learnt to ring. They were both confirmed, again, one at Holy Trinity and one at St John’s, each in the same Church in which they were baptised. My younger son, Oliver acted as a server at St. John’s for a number of years until he left King James School to go to university. Many may remember him trudging up the aisle (with wet hair) at 10.30am carrying the cross in front of the choir.
Christine Devine
St. John’s has been the church I attend since I moved to Knaresborough twenty six years ago. In that time there have been many kindly people in the congregations, umpteen inspiring sermons, some glorious flower festivals and being part of the parish’s continuous struggle to meet the needs of the “flock” while bearing appropriate witness of the Christian message to the town, the visitors, the world. One’s faith through life is a bit like the Church’s year, with a rhythm of fasts and festivals: times of overcast questioning, and others of confident certainty in matters spiritual. In between, like the weeks after Trinity Sunday, there’s the even tenor of Christian life. The church building is a splendid backdrop to all these inner experiences. It is both grand and austere to reflect the Lord’s majesty, yet decorated and embellished with images in windows, and wood and stone carving of great humanity and beauty. Surely the way the purple altar cloth of Lent and Advent picks up the stone’s purple in the surrounding clusters of columns is unique? It is a privilege to be a small part of the team looking after the weekly running of St. John’s in the second decade of the twenty-first century.
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