Community

What is Messy Church?

Messy Church is church… but not as you might know it!  It’s informal, family-friendly and interactive.

What happens at Messy Church?

There is about an hour of different activities such as crafts, games and challenges followed by a short celebration.  The celebration usually involves a Bible story, a prayer and a song.  After all that, there’s then a shared meal!

Who is Messy Church for?

Everyone!  The relaxed atmosphere means that anyone can join in.  We always have some activities which are suitable for pre-schoolers, babies can play with our toys and our oldest guest (so far) has been 83!

How much does Messy Church cost?

Nothing – it’s free!  There is no charge to join us for Messy Church.

If you would like further information about Messy Church, please get in touch by using the contact page.

Skipton Food Bank is run by Skipton Baptist Church. It has a part-time manager and assistant, and many volunteers from across Craven. Our volunteers have a range of different stories and backgrounds, but come together to fight poverty and restore hope to people who are struggling in our communities. We welcome donations of time, money and food, and look to work together with local agencies, schools, and businesses to support people in crisis.

We support people through a referral system with local agency partners, and are able to provide for people with special dietary needs. We can also tailor parcels for each family or person we provide for to make sure that it suits their needs as best we can. The food parcels are designed to last for up to a week as we know that Craven is a rural area and people may not have transport to get into Skipton often to access further support.

The first steps were taken by a small prayer group at the Skipton Baptist Church in 2010. They wanted to show some of the love they had experienced from their God to others in their local community who were struggling. The group decided to give out food parcels at Christmas and then again at Easter. Regular donations started in Autumn 2011. More volunteers from the Baptist Church became involved and overall 60 hampers were given out during 2012. In 2013, with increasing connections to agencies, 320 food parcels were distributed as well as 85 at Christmas.

At the end of 2013 the demands of the Food Bank were too great for a few volunteers from the Church and so a Lead Volunteer was asked to act as co-ordinator. One of her first tasks was to apply for funding which was awarded in March 2014 and then they were able to recruit a Food Bank Manager. The main tasks being to look after the volunteers, manage the day to day running of the food bank and communicate with both supporters and agencies. In 2014 we distributed 696 food parcels and 105 Christmas hampers.

With some funding from Craven District Council we were asked to expand the provision of food parcels throughout Craven. We have also worked with Craven District Council’s No Second Night Out scheme for emergency homeless packs including tent, sleeping bag, warm clothes and food parcels for those who find themselves without accommodation. This funding has now ceased, but we continue to provide homeless packs for those in need and will take referrals from the Craven area.

We have been very busy during 2020 responding to people in the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a great need for food across the district and many people have really struggled. In 2020 we distributed 2043 parcels and 350 Christmas parcels, all by home delivery through our team of volunteer drivers. We were running 10 sessions a week in our new hub at St Andrew’s Church Hall. We are working with many partner orgnisations across Craven to join up thinking on helping people out of poverty.

Since September our staff team has reduced to 1 again and we reduced our opening hours to 3 days a week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday Morning. We are trialling a drop in session on a Tuesday morning aimed at helping people address the reason they are struggling to afford food, encouraging more people to return to picking up their own parcels and trying to work out how to move forward after the pressures of the pandemic.

It is hard for us as a team to accept that Food Banks exist in our current society. We would rather we weren’t here! To that end, we continue to work, hope and pray for a Skipton and Craven where the Food Bank is no longer needed because we all have enough to live on. Want to join us? Get in touch.