The seventh Sunday of Easter

Our beautiful church will be open to the public every Saturday afternoon, 2.00 pm until 4.00 pm throughout the summer from Easter through to the end of September. Please do tell your friends and neighbours about this and encourage them to come and have a look around their church, and perhaps come along to one of our Concert Season performances:

• 13 June: Altofts and Normanton Brass Band
• 11 July: Giles Taylor, organ

Confirmations for the East Leeds Deanery will be taking place at St James the Great Manston on 13 September. I am aware of two potential candidates for confirmation at that service. If you are considering being confirmed, or if you would like to know more, please contact Rev'd Claire. It would be good to have a joyful Whitkirk contingent at this service.

The Hook Memorial Lectures 2026 will be taking place at All Souls' (Hook Memorial) Church, Blackman Lane on Mondays through June at 7pm. This year's lectures focus on the four Gospels and some of the speakers may be familiar to you. The lectures are free and open to all interested parties.

• 1 June: The Gospel of Mark (Rev'd Canon Amos Kasibante)
• 8 June: The Gospel of Matthew (Rev'd Dr Jo Logan)
• 15 June: The Gospel of Luke (Very Rev'd Andrew Nunn)
• 22 June: The Gospel of John (Rev'd Dr Claire Honess)
• 29 June: The 'fifth Gospel' (Canon Ann Nicholl)

The Leeds South & East Food Bank continues to be in urgent need of donations to help those in most need. In particular at the moment they are asking for UHT milk, tea and coffee, rice pudding, packet custard, cooking sauces, tinned potatoes and tinned fish.

If you are able, you can donate by picking one of these items up in your weekly shop and dropping it in the box at the back of the church. You can find other ways to help, including donating money or your time, on their website at wkrk.uk/fbd. If you need the help of a foodbank yourself, see wkrk.uk/fbh.

Envelopes are still available in the church today if you would like to donate to this worthy cause. Please take one and return it to the church during the month. If you could take additional envelopes for family, friends or neighbours that would be really appreciated. If you are unable to get to Church you can donate online at caweek.org/give.

This is your chance to find out all that has been going on over the last year and our plans for the future, to vote for members of our Parochial Church Council (essentially, our governing body), or even to stand for election yourself. Papers for the meeting can be found on our website at wkrk.uk/apcm or can be picked up from the back of church in a hard copy if you prefer. If you are interested in standing for election but would like to find out more about what's involved, do speak to Rev'd Claire or to a churchwarden.

If you have not yet paid for your tickets to Lincoln and would like to come on the trip, please see Joan Williams after today's service. If you would like to come but are struggling to pay, please have a quiet word with Rev'd Claire after the service. We strongly believe that no-one should be prevented from taking part in church activities because of cost and we will be happy to help.

'The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.' You are invited to this Quiet Day, led by Rev'd Claire on behalf of Churches Together in East Leeds, which will explore the notion of blessing, taking the so-called 'Aaronic blessing' as a starting-point. Allowing participants space to reflect and explore, it will encourage them to recognise the blessings that God pours out upon them and, simultaneously, to recognise themselves as bearers of that blessing to others and to the world. There is no charge for attendance. Please bring your own lunch. Tea and coffee provided. RSVP to [email protected] to give us an idea of numbers.