As we said in the Friday newsletter on 27th January, The Belfrey Love Your Neighbour focus is to have four short-term projects over 2023 where we’ll be encouraging you to “serve York” through joining in with projects across York.

The first of these is ”Central Store”, a free clothing store for asylum seekers to come and choose their own clothes, which has just been set up.  The Social Action Fund (our Post Pandemic Fund) has given a £4000 start-up donation, and it’s a wonderful way for us to meet the needs of our neighbours in York.  It is running at Central Methodist Church on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 1-3pm, with volunteers there 12:30-3:30.  Refugee Action York are co-ordinating the volunteers who will go through RAY’s application process.  They would prefer you to be able to give at least a 6 month commitment to the project, although the commitment could be anything from once-a-month to more frequently.  

So can you help?   If you’re interested, please contact claire.treherne@belfrey.org or volunteers@refugeeactionyork.com for an application form.

This is only the first of a number of opportunities to help the four hundred refugees in a hotel in York who arrived in December 2022, plus of course those who have been in York longer.

Coming soon will be: 

• evening volunteer sessions to receive and sort clothes

• drivers for van runs

• requests for donated clothes. 

More will follow as details are confirmed.

The second round of The Belfrey’s Social Action Small Grands Fund is open for applications.

In partnership with Two Ridings Community Foundation, The Belfrey is pleased to announce that a further £25,000 is now available for charities in York from our Post Pandemic Fund. As a resource church in the heart of York we want to serve our city and region; these Grants will provide support to charities and social action projects here, especially those operating at grassroots and local community level.

Charities are invited to apply for up to £2,000 to help their ongoing work and aid the recovery of York as it emerges from the COVID19 pandemic.

Begun at The Belfrey in 2021, the Post Pandemic Fund is a £1m+ programme which supports activities focusing on:

• Poverty

• Mental Health

• Young People and Families

The closing date for this round is the 8th November. Application packs and more information can be found on the Two Ridings website.

Our previous round of funding over the summer of 2022 distributed £25,428 to 13 different local charities and community groups, providing much-needed support to people across York.

Several charities received vital funds to help launch new initiatives or expand ongoing work. York Women’s Counselling Service were awarded £2,000 to cover the costs of 200 hours of counselling for women in need in the city, sustaining their ongoing work. St Thomas’ Church in The Groves received £1,815 to run a weekly creative café for 10 weeks; and Tang Hall Community Centre aimed to tackle financial issues for families over the school holidays by providing weekly food parcels for families in need with their £1,800 grant. York Inspirational Kids received £2,000 to run cooking and craft activities to help children with autism to increase social networks and develop skills. All these amazing organisations and more have been working across York this last year to help those most in need in our city and provide activities and support for the city.

We want to continue this great work and support over winter and into next year. If you are part of a charity that might need some financial support with their work or want to begin a new initiative, we would love to be able to work with you to help achieve this - please do consider applying.

Interested to learn more about Social Action at The Belfrey or the Post Pandemic Fund?

Contact Alison Dawson, Social Action Programme Manager

We are pleased to announce that our Vicar, Revd. Matthew Porter has been appointed an Honorary Chaplain to Her Majesty The Queen.

An Honorary Chaplain to The Queen is a member of the clergy who, after long and distinguished service, is appointed to an honorary role in service of the monarch. There are presently about 35 Honorary Chaplains.

As an Honorary Chaplain, Matthew will be part of the Ecclesiastical Household, which means that as well as being Vicar of St Michael le Belfrey he will occasionally attend royal events and preach to the royal household.

Matthew says: ‘In this year of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee I am delighted and honoured to be invited into this role. I look forward to being part of the Ecclesiastical Household, alongside the other chaplains, in prayerful service of our monarch and nation.’

It's with full hearts that we are pleased to announce that Beth Burbidge, our Internship Coordinator and Assistant Youth Worker, has accepted a new post as Associate Leader with responsiblity for Children and Youth at St Peter's Church in Morley, Leeds.

We love Beth and her husband Alex, and are so thankful for all they have given in service to our church family over the last six years. Both of them have played a huge part in our community and will be sorely missed, but we're so pleased that The Belfrey is called to be a church that builds up leaders, in order to send them out to resource other churches in the North of England.

Beth and Alex will be moving to Leeds in the summer, and we will commission and honour them closer to that time. In the meantime, please do join us in praying for Beth and Alex over the next few months as they transition into this new chapter of their ministry together, and for our Internship and Youth Work ministries as they continue to grow.

Anonymous Donor gives up to £5.9m to help fund St Michael le Belfrey’s building project 

It is with awe and gratitude that St Michael le Belfrey Church finds itself the beneficiary of a gift of up to £5.9m. This significant gift has been donated specifically to fund a major repair and reordering project currently estimated between £5-7m. 

This gift will help the Church:

• expand its mission to share the Christian faith, serve young people, support the vulnerable in the city and develop future church leaders who can move on to plant new churches in the north

• undertake a comprehensive programme of repairs which preserves a nationally significant building for future generations

• restore and reorder a building which will create a stunning city centre venue that not only benefits visitors but York’s residents and businesses 

 “When I received the news, it is fair to say that I was astounded by the generosity of this gift and the phenomenal provision of God,” explains Matthew Porter, Vicar of The Belfrey. “To know that we can go ahead with the building restoration in the knowledge that most, if not all, of the funding is in place is both a privilege and a responsibility. It’s important that we create a space which will benefit many people and supports our vision. It’s wonderful to know that this releases us as a church to consider other priorities which require our finances.” 

The building project includes substantial repairs to the fabric including stonework, stained glass and a new roof, alongside a significant reordering particularly to the interior, to make it more flexible for the worship and mission of a 21st Century Church.  

St Michael le Belfrey is a resource church for York Diocese which means it will help train and develop new leaders, help revitalise old churches and plant new ones in York and further afield (as is the case with St Thomas’ church in Newcastle, planted in 2019). 

The benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous, approached Matthew in summer 2019 to share their support of the vision to reorder the church building and plant new churches. The Vicar and Church Council have appointed a Project board to make sure the project and its finance are managed wisely. This significant gift follows an already generous donation made to the church in 2017 towards the project.