Come to church this Holy Week! Today at 7.30pm the people of Kildwick, Cononley and Bradley - known to its friends as "KCB" will meet at St Andrew's to pray for the three churches. Tomorrow at 7.30 St Mary's, Bradley will host Compline - a very simple spoken service. This is the last of the great monastic offices of the day. The word, Compline derives from the Latin "to complete" and it marks the end of the working day. On Wednesday at 7.30pm there is a candle-lit "Tenebrae" service at St John's, Cononley. Read more about it tomorrow... More services to come! Watch this space!

Come to church this Holy Week! Today at 10.00 - A Palm Sunday service at St Andrew's Cononley have a service at 11.00am - and the Cononley Singers will offer a Palm Sunday reflection in words and music at 3.00pm Tomorrow at 7.30pm there will be the regular monthly prayers for the three churches (Kildwick, Cononley and Bradley - known to its friends as "KCB") at St Andrew's. On Tuesday at 7.30 St Mary's, Bradley will host Compline - a very simple spoken service. This is the last of the great monastic offices of the day. More services to come! Watch this space!

It was a cold start for the bellringers this morning! However, we achieved a "first" for the new band. For the first time, we rang changes (Plain Bob) for a Sunday Service with only Kildwick ringers. The bells are hardly audible in church, so perhaps it was a good thing that the congregation had decided, rather than to shiver in the nave, to squeeze into the far warmer Parish Rooms. It was a tight fit...

The St Andrew's MiniRingers (pupils at Kildwick CE VC Primary School) were in action yesterday at the Skipton Music Festival. Sadly, not a win in the competitive class this year, but we've been asked back to perform again in the Final Concert on Saturday, ringing changes. I hope we'll be able to raise sufficient numbers to make a band.

Mother's Day This has its roots in Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent when, traditionally, children who had left home to go "into service" elsewhere, had the day off to come home to their "Mother Church". As they walked home, they would gather posies of flowers for their Mums and may well have carried the traditional Simnel Cake (if Cook in the Big House was generous!) Our Mothering Sunday service included the blessing of posies of flowers which were handed out to the congregation by our Flower Girl, Anna - a pupil at Kildwick CE VC Primary School (who also read the Gospel most beautifully).

Came into church today and found we'd had another fall of plaster. We'd cleared up on Friday but there's obviuosly some more loose stuff that needs to be dislodged. The main nave (the middle bit) is protected with a length of debris netting the whole length of the church but we need to keep prodding the plaster in the aisles (the side bits) to be sure that the plaster doesn't fall on people. I can see some prodding coming on! Our problem is really with the tiled roof above. This is leaking and damaging the old plaster below. We are working hard to try to raise funds to repair it - but it's a big, big bill (approaching half a million). There's a "Sponsor a Slate" appeal out (see http://www.kildwick.org.uk/renovation/sponsor-a-slate ) but what we really need is the enthusiastic support of others as we apply for grants to help us to try to save this wonderful old building.

Church was full for the Kildwick CE VC Primary School Collective Worship on Friday. The theme was "Lost" - and we heard of the panic that happens when parents lose their child in a crowd - and when a child loses sight of their parents. Three children read the story of how Jesus got lost in the Temple as his parents travelled back home to Nazareth.

Delighted to welcome our new member of the congregation!

Hidden Corners Not many people get to see some of the hidden places in a church. Here are a couple of pictures that may begin an irregular look at some of our secret corners. We start, high up, in the belfry.

St Andrew’s Church has a lot of slates - and they all (round about 10,000 of them) need to be taken off and cleaned. About half will need to be replaced. You have an opportunity to become a part of the history of this ancient building. You could sponsor a slate to celebrate a special event in your life, remember your wedding, give thanks for a child baptised in the ancient font or in memory of a loved one. You'll help to make a lasting difference to St Andrew’s for generations to come. There's more detail over at http://kildwick.org.uk/renovation/sponsor-a-slate including a downloadable sponsor form - and an online payment facility too!

Springtime! The early signs of a new year are sprouting all along the church path