Welcome to our June 2025 e-News!
Minster Musings
Many years ago, an horrific car accident resulted in a 21-year-old young man sustaining severe head injuries. His name was Peter. So substantial were his injuries that he was thrown into a deep coma and the doctor’s told his family that they should prepare for the worst, and that ever should he survive he would always exist in a comatose state.
One of the people who heard this frightening news was Linda, the girl Peter had planned to marry.
In the sad days that lay ahead, Linda spent all her spare time at the hospital. Night after night, she would sit at Peter’s bedside, pat his cheek, rub his brow, and talk to him. “It was,” she said, “like we were on a normal date.” Yet all the while Peter remained in a coma, unresponsive to Linda’s loving presence.
Night after night, for three and a half months, Linda sat at Peter’s bedside, speaking words of encouragement to him, even though he gave no sign that he heard her. Then one night Linda saw Peter’s toe move. A few nights later she saw his eyelash flutter. This was all she needed. Against the advice of the doctors, she quit her job and became his constant companion, spending hours massaging his arms and legs until eventually she arranged to take him home, spending all her savings on a swimming pool, hoping that the sun and the water would restore life to Peter’s motionless limbs.
Then came the day when Peter spoke his first word since the accident. It was only a grunt, but Linda understood it; then gradually, with Linda’s help, those grunts turned into words until finally, the day came when Peter was able to ask Linda’s father if he could marry her.
Linda’s father said, “When you can walk down the aisle, Peter, she’ll be yours.”
Two years later Peter walked down the aisle our Our Lady of Pompeii Church in Chicago. He had to use a walker, but he was walking.
TV stations covered that wedding, newspapers carried pictures of Linda and Peter and celebrities phoned to congratulate them. People from far away sent them letters and presents. Families with loved ones in comas call to ask their advice.
From there on Peter was to live a normal life, he talked and walked, albeit slowly and he and Linda were to be blessed by the birth of a child.
This story of Peter and Linda is a beautiful commentary on the words of Jesus – “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn 13:34-35)
If there’s one thing we need to do today, it is to rediscover the power of love, the kind of love that Jesus preached.
The story of Linda and Peter illustrated that this kind of love has tremendous power, a miraculous power.
- It has the power to bring people back from the brink of death to life.
- It has the power to inspire the people the world over.
- It has the power to bring people back from hopelessness to hope as Linda’s love for Peter did.
Great we may think, how true, but then comes this damning observation:
Mahatma Gandhi, a respected leader of modern history as Hindu, yet admired Jesus and was known to quote from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Gandhi he asked him, “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?”
Gandhi replied, “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Appearing now to change the subject, ‘The Quest for Fire’ is a niche prehistoric fantasy adventure film based on the 1911 Belgian novel The Quest for Fire by J. H. Rosny. The film is set in Palaeolithic Europe 80,000 years ago and follows the struggle for control of fire by early humans.
The film’s French producer said of it, that it fulfilled a lifelong dream. He’d always dreamed of celebrating in film, the discovery of fire. For it was the discover of fire 80,000 years ago that saved people from total extinction. It was the discovery of fire that made it possible for them to make tools for survival and to protect themselves against the cold.
Today, people on planet earth are beginning to worry again that we are teetering on the brink of global disaster. This time the danger comes not from something basic like the lack of fire, but something even more basic – the lack of human love. The kind of love that Jesus preached, the kind of love demonstrated by Linda and Peter.
The danger today is manifest in the rise in tensions between nations, and a growing distrust of others, a vaunting of self and self-interest at the expense of others, above the nurturing of relationships, above community cohesion. Power, greed and the search for ever increased wealth and possessions marginalises people, races, nations.
In fact, these issues have no small share in another impending doom, that of Global Warming.
This makes me wonder. It makes me ask a few questions. •
- Will someone in 80,000 years from now make a movie to celebrate the rediscovery of love somewhere in the twenty-first century?
- Will someone 80,000 years from now make a move to celebrate the only thing that can save our planet from extinction – the rediscovery of human love, the kind of love Jesus preached, the kind of love Linda had for Peter?
- Will someone 80,000 years from now make a movie to celebrate the outpouring of love that come forth from the Christian community in the 2020’s and changed our world?
Only a future with an awakening of our common shared humanity and dignity as children of a loving heavenly father can forge the change necessary. Pentecost is days away, how much does the world need an outpouring of a spirit of peace, of love, of justice; the Spirit of God to inspire, empower and effect a grassroot change in our troubled world.
As I write the news is full of increased spending on armaments both here and abroad. A world in which there is money for bombs, destruction and death, but none to feed the hungry or heal the anguish of mothers with malnourished children.
Here’s a task for the many, for sure, but it can and must be a duty of everyone one of us, especially if we own the name Christian. And if we do want to celebrate such an outpouring of love, then we’d better start moving because we’re a quarter of a way through that century already and we’re faced with what seems an unsurmountable lack of love.
Jesus invites us to examine our hearts and to see how we ourselves are rising to the challenge of living lives hallmarked by love. And Jesus doesn’t prioritise, or rank, those whom we are to love. We do not choose our neighbour; they are often presented to us as a gift and some neighbours are more difficult than others. It can be hard to love some people, but Jesus doesn’t excuse us. And if we and others don’t begin here, in the places where they find themselves, and begin right now, things won’t change at all.
I close with some words from the late French Jesuit priest-scientist Teilhard de Chardin.
He writes: “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will discover fire.”
Revd David Carpenter
Lecturer
May in the Minster
The month started with VE Day celebrations with a themed Thursday @ One concert, played by our own Sean Montgomery and a concert featuring the Nightingales and the Halifax Big Band.
To mark Mental Health Week, the Minster hosted Healthy Minds’ ForumFest! with workshops, speakers, exhibitions and refreshments.
At the Annual Parochial Church Meeting, held in the Sung Eucharist service on May 18th, Alison Moss was elected as our new Churchwarden, to serve alongside Mick Walker. Alison replaces Sheila Stoppard after serving in the role for 15 years.
Sheila writes: “May I take this opportunity to convey my heartfelt thanks to the worshipping community of The Halifax Minster for all the good wishes on the occasion of my retirement as Church Warden. To Hilary, Sam, David and the PCC a sincere thank-you for the beautiful gift which has now got pride of place in my home. To Hilary and Mick my partner in crime it has been a pleasure and an honour to work with you and to support you both through thick and thin. Life has not always been a bed of roses as we have witnessed over the years, but with diligence, hard work and understanding we have overcome these problems. Finally, to Alison may I wish you a long, happy and hopefully trouble free tenure as you embark in your role as Church Warden. Thank-you all.”
The Minster hosted the European Stonecarving Festival, which saw 120 carvers from countries across Europe take part in the annual competition creating pieces with the theme ‘myths and legends’. The works were all auctioned off at the end, with the Minster receiving £1000 in the share of the profit made. There were entertainments and refreshment stalls and thousands attended over the Bank Holiday weekend. For a video showing the festival visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wtgc1GZthA
The month ended with Canon Hilary Barber and Cllr Dot Foster, former Mayor of Calderdale and member of the Minster Choir, accompanying Bishop Smitha to Halifax’s twin town, Aachen. They attended the prizegiving ceremony for the German government’s annual award for the contribution to the story of the emerging Europe. This year’s recipient was Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
June in the Minster
Our Thursday @ One lunchtime organ concerts are held weekly through the summer months and provide a great opportunity to meet each other over lunch before enjoying an hour of varied and entertaining music. Our hot and cold buffet lunches are just £7 and the concerts are FREE with a retiring collection towards the upkeep of the Minster’s organs. The recital on Thursday June 5th is performed by Marc Murray, Director of Music at Bury Parish Church and is played on both organs.
On Sunday June 15th, our service at 4pm celebrates 40 years of the work of the Women’s Centre in Halifax.
On the evening of June 15th, Culturedale have a concert at the Minster with the English Chamber Orchestra performing. Tickets are selling fast for this concert – to get yours and more information, click below:
On Saturday 21st June the Cube Choir return for their Summer Concert, details below:
June ends with the annual Halifax Minster Summer Festival. Brochures are available in church to give to friends and family, to invite them to an events. The brochure, with full details of all the exciting events of the 2025 can also be downloaded by clicking below:
Parishioner Profile
Name: Michael Holdsworth
Favourite music: Blue because it is the colour of my eyes, it is the colour of the seas and is the colour of our planet.
Favourite music: Depending on the place and circumstances my favourites are Tom Petty – “I won’t back down” (1989), Gregoria Allegri – “Miserere mei, Deus” (1638), Amadeus Mozart – “Requiem” (1971 unfinished) as it was the last of so many beautiful pieces of music written for everybody. Lastly but not least Pink Floyd – “Dark side of the Moon” (1973) as this has such deep meaning and conflicts of interests to the point of madness.
Favourite food: Steak Tartar when you can get it, otherwise Pork pie with tomato and egg salad, baked beans and mayonnaise.
Thing most proud of: Managing and running my family’s textile Moquette Weaving Company – John Holdsworth & Co Ltd, Shaw Lodge Mills in Halifax from March 1979 until 2005. I had the support and enthusiasm from a fantastic workforce who were dedicated and proud of their skills and work ethics to produce the best oquette in the world.
Work life: Began as a trainee cowman/herdsman on the Stratton Estate (5,000 acres) in the Deverill’s in Wiltshire, then moved to a 500 acre mixed farm near Maltby/South Yorkshire as an under cowman and general farm-worker. I realised that I could not compete with French farmers and so decided to go into manufacturing at my Fathers factory in Halifax in 1968. Served apprenticeships at Standeven’s (Worsted Weavers) in Halifax and Clay & Horsfall (Worsted Spinners) in Sowerby Bridge. Went to Bradford Technical College and then on passing out went to Huddersfield Technical College both full and part time (day release) and studied while working, the textile processes and in particular wool. I went on to study and work in every department in the mill over the next 12 years. At the same time supporting and eventually running the export side of sales under our Sales Director Reymond Sutcliffe. I started at 21 in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway and then moved on into Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Sometimes luck comes into one’s life and that happened in 1982 when we (the Family) managed to persuade Ernest Hirsch to join John Holdsworth & Co Ltd as Sales Director on retirement of Raymond Sutcliffe. Ernest was SD of Firth Furnishings our largest competitor in the world. They sold their moquette into every country we competed in and into the USA which we did not. The Holdsworth Family had already started and had completed 4 phases of reinvestment in the twisting, warping, winding, weaving, finishing departments. As well as a re – roofing and heightening the main weaving shed to 6 mts high without pillars to accommodate these new Double Plush looms and replacing other buildings roofs. Ernest introduced us to the USA, Canada and Mexico. In the next 10 years we expanded rapidly to cope with these additional sales, and I worked hard with my brother David (Production Director), to expand our weaving capacity which we did. In 1991 we bought out Firth Furnishings which delighted Ernest Hirsch!
We continued to invest in new looms and other machinery as we expanded until 1998 our best year ever!. We then went through 7 years of redundancies closing down excess capacity as the GDP became overvalued and aligned with Brent Crude – we became a Petro Economy so manufacturing collapsed. In the Tony Blair/Gordon Brown era more than 50% of GB manufacturing closed down. My sister Ingrid Holdsworth (HR Director) took over this terrible job of selecting the very people who had joined us since 1979 and it was a mortifying period for us all. We sold the whole enterprise to St. James Securities and Hanson Partners in September 2005. The Family was finished but all the employees retained their jobs. The bank and the creditors were paid out 100 pence in the pound, the customers managed to receive their goods and HMCR were paid their taxes in full. I was lucky to be offered an agency opportunity as a salesman and technician with Herbert Kneitz of Austria (our competitor) and worked with them until 2021.
I am now fully retired. Full history of the Holdsworth Family is at :- https://story.theholdsworths.org.uk/pages/1822.html
100-word bio: Born in Scargill House, Kettlewell, North Yorkshire, my parent’s estate of 1050 acres of farming land with 3,000 acres of shooting rights over Greater Whernside, Coniston Moor and a mile of trout fishing rights in the river Wharfe
My Father was a hurricane pilot in WW2 who met my Mother, Dina Maria (Didi) (Nee Kuperus) who was a Dutch Resistant runner in Amsterdam under the Nazi regime; who’s cell saved him when he was shot down in 1945 from being shot by firing squad after “Operation Market Garden” or best known for the film “A Bridge Too Far” fiasco of General Montgomery. Hitler had decreed that any and all airman of the allies who parachuted into the Benelux area from then on were to be shot on sight. I grew up at Scargill until the land was sold in 1957 to a consortium of local land owners and the house to the Church of England as a Christian Conference Centre and retreat (still in use as that today). The family moved to Bellinter Park, Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland an estate and mixed farm of 600 acres on the river Boyne. I worked on the farm in the school holidays but never went home for half term as it was too far to travel from my schools to the south of Ireland. Dad sold Bellinter Park to the Land Commission in 1966 mainly because of the dangers of the English living in Ireland in the time of “The Troubles”. The Land Commission then sold the house and 12 acres to a religious order of “Sisters of Sion”. Latterly in 2004 they sold Bellinter House, and it was refurbished for a reported Euro €13.5 million into a hotel and spa. The Family relocated to the safety of 12 Heath Villas, Halifax in 1966.
I was educated at :- Clifton House School, Harrogate as a weekly border 1952-1955. Prep School. Then Lockers Park,Hemel Hempstead 1955-1959, Prep School. Then Old Quarries, Avening 1959-1960, Crammer School. Then Crookham Court, Newbury 1960/1965. Public School.
I went to the Royal College of Agriculture in Cirencester on courses and to Doncaster College to learn animal husbandry, before going into textiles which took all my life, apart from sports. I am no good at ball sports but love racing and sailing large keel yachts as part of a team. This teaches you to work with others who you may like or dislike but together you must get a job done and you must trust each other. Off sailing season, shooting with shotguns and in the past live game and now clay pigeons. Best Novel: The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat (1951).
Best thing I have ever done: Marry Sue in The Holdsworth Chapel in the Minster in 2010.
Next best thing: Had my son Tristian (1985) and Daughter Johanna (1987) by Corrine Holdsworth (nee Bruce) who I married in 1984 and divorced in 1998.
