• Fountains Group of Churches Safeguarding Notice

    For details of the Church Services in the Benefice
please use the Calendar, or click on the link below:

    May 2021 Church Services 

    We will be holding short services of Holy Communion (sharing the bread only). We hope you can join us. Face coverings are currently obligatory at services

    Please note that the there will be no Wednesday morning services for the time being.

                                    ~~o~~o~~

    Sunday 9th May - Revd Ian Kitchen will be holding a Zoom Service at 10am. Please contact Ian if you would like to join us - email ian.kitchen@leeds.anglican.org.

    The Service we will be following on Zoom will be available to download here:

    Sunday 9th May Zoom

    A Service to use at home, if not following the Zoom service, will be available to download here:

    Sunday 9th May

     

                                                                ~~o~~o~~

    Private prayer in church

    We now have the go-ahead for people to go into our church buildings for private prayer if they wish to do so.

    The churches in Aldfield, Kirkby Malzeard, Mickley and Sawley are now open for private prayer every day. Grewelthorpe will be open Monday-Friday. Access to Dallowgill and Winksley for prayer can be arranged with the priest in charge. 

    Find Live Streamed Events Nearby

     

    All editions of The Fountain magazine, since April 2020, are now available using the menu at the top of this page.

    Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance from The Church of England - This link contain prayers, readings and links to useful resources at this difficult time. It also contains the updated guidance we are following as we move forward. 

    Please take time to follow the latest updates from the Diocese of Leeds

    Welcome

    The Fountains Benefice lies between Nidderdale and Lower Wensleydale in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the west of the North Yorkshire cathedral city of Ripon. Its name is taken from Fountains Abbey – a former Cistercian monastery dating back to the 12th century. Today, it is one of the largest monastic ruins in the country. 

    The benefice consists of four parishes and eight churches serving their rural communities:

    Kirkby Malzeard – St Andrew's Church
Dallowgill – Chapel of the Resurrection
Mickley – St John the Evangelist Church
Grewelthorpe – St James and the Methodist Church
Fountains: Aldfield – St Lawrence the Martyr
                   Sawley – St Michael & All Angels;            
                   Winksley – St Cuthbert & St Oswald; 
St Mary's Church, within Studley Royal park, holds occasional services

    Our Priest in Charge is Revd Ian Kitchen, who joined us at the end of October 2019. He is based at The Rectory, Ringbeck Road, Kirkby Malzeard HG4 3SL. Email: ian.kitchen@leeds.anglican.org . Tel: 01765 650369.

    If you need information about any of the churches, services and events or would like to enquire about a baptism, confirmation, wedding or funeral, please get in touch with Isabelle Munyard, our parish administrator, email parishfountains@gmail.com.

    Material for the churches' magazine, The Fountain, should be sent to the editor, Mrs Sharon Wood by 12th of the month preceding publication. Email sharonjwood1@gmail.com, post to West Farm, Galphay, Ripon HG4 3NJ, or telephone 01765 658220.

     

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  • Daily Reflections

    Monday 10th May

    Psalm 121
    1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
    from where will my help come?
    2 My help comes from the LORD,
    who made heaven and earth.
    3 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
    4 He who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.
    5 The LORD is your keeper;
    the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
    6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.
    7 The LORD will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
    8 The LORD will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time on and forevermore.

    Reflection 
    I think many people would say that they feel closest to God, and experience their deepest spiritual moments, in the countryside. My husband, Jonathan, and I have said all through this past year of lockdown and restrictions how blessed and thankful we have been to live in a rural environment. As soon as each lockdown has ended, there have been groups of people walking up the hill past our house to climb Penhill. It’s been almost possible to hear their deep breaths and sighs of relief and relaxation to be able to be out walking in the Dales again.
    I very often use my early morning walk up the hill with our dog, Monty, to pray. It’s just as well that we’re out in the sticks and there’s no-one to hear, but I, too, feel closest to God as I lift my eyes to the hills. As we walk, I often stop to look around me, to worship and to breathe in the peace of the place. Monty is very tolerant of it all!
    Psalm 121 is one of my favourite pieces of scripture; the words are just beautiful…but do they really mean that we will never slip or stumble, that we will never meet any harm, since God is watching over us and protecting us? No, I don’t think so, because there is no life on earth like that. We will all have our times of sadness and illness, moments of despair and loss; that is just part of life. I have walked Monty up in the hills in times of grief when I have wailed with the pain of it all…and perhaps that has been the most honest prayer of all.
    I believe the truth of Psalm 121 is that all through our times of trouble, and our times of peace, God is there with us, always there, watching over us, being with us, carrying us through our toughest times. Look up; he is there – for us to worship, to talk to, to wail to, to cling to. I lift up my eyes to the hills. He is there.
    I lift up my eyes to the hills—
    from where will my help come?
    2 My help comes from the LORD,
    who made heaven and earth.

    Thanks be to God!
    Amen

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