YORKSHIRE CHURCHES DAY WILL TAKE PLACE ON

SATURDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2024

Open up and tell your story

Yorkshire Churches Day (YCD) is a chance for every place of worship in the county to open up and showcase the amazing history and heritage found inside their buildings.

A day to tell stories and bring to life the variety, beauty, history and sheer wonder of Yorkshire’s churches, chapels and places of worship. The aim of the day is to encourage everyone to visit their local church even if they have never stepped foot inside a church before. It will be a day for those who are curious about history and heritage of their local surroundings.

Watch below to see what YCD is all about

So many churches are getting involved – keep an eye on our website to find out more .

Download

Get involved

Once again, YCD is running in partnership with the Heritage Open Days festival (HOD), whose theme is ‘Routes – Networks – Connections’. This year, as well as individual churches opening, in line with the HOD theme, many are working together to put on trails, offering refreshments and entertainment to encourage visitors to spend a day exploring several different churches whether that be on foot, by bike or by car.

One such trail is the St Aelred Pilgrim’s Trail, organised by Upper Ryedale Parish council, who have organised a 12 mile ‘gathering’ walk, starting at All Saints in Hawnby, and gathering walkers along the way at churches in Old Byland, Scawton, and Cold Kirby, finishing with a service in Rievaulx Abbey and a celebration event in the Abbey Cafe.

Another trail being developed will start at St Helen’s at Amotherby, near Malton, with visitors taking in All Saints in Appleton-le-Street before heading to St Michael’s in Barton-le-Street where they can get lunch and listen to an organ recital, before heading towards All Saints at Slingsby and finishing with a fizz reception at All Saints at Hovingham.

Visitors can also visit the five churches in the Boroughbridge benefice – Aldborough, Boroughbridge, Lower Dunsforth, Minskip and Roecliffe.

Keep an eye here for furthe details.

If this has inspired you, click here for a detailed toolkit of how to set up a trail from the organisers of the St Aelred Pilgrim’s Trail.

YHCT-Toolkit-for-Yorkshire-Churches-Day Download

First step – Register…

Register your event on the Heritage Open Days website, stating you are opening for YCD with the words “As part of Heritage Open Days we are opening our lovely church/chapel (delete as required) on Yorkshire Churches Day, September 14th. Come and explore our history and treasures” – and use the logo on the right

Ideas…

Although as part of the HOD remit, entry to your event must be free, there are many ways you can engage your visitors and encourage donations.

Ideas include:
Provide refreshments, run tours, stage exhibitions, offer bell ringing, put on recitals, offer skills/craft demonstrations, provide eye spy sheets for children, set up treasure hunts, seeds/book swaps, flower demonstrations, holding a teddy bears picnic – there are so many possibilities.

Publicising your event

Publicising your event is really important, let us know your plans and we will add your details to the list of participating which will drive visitors on the day.

Let us know your plans

3 easy steps:

Registration: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/get-involved/how-to-get-involved.html
Event preparation and publicity: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/resource/getstarted2024pdf.html

Click here to download a poster allowing visitors to donate to the YHCT and add details to the poster to display in your church

Donation poster

We are taking part poster

More advice on the use of social media, local papers and local radio to promote your event can be found here:

Promotion

Use the YCD logo on your HOD entry and any publicity you are producing:

YCD logo

5 good reasons to take part:

Attract new audiences to your church
Engage with the local community and make strong local connections
Showcase the history and heritage of your church
Bring in funds
Meet and inspire potential new volunteers

Support us

Hundreds of churches set to open for Yorkshire Churches Day

Yorkshire’s places of worship need your help

Join us

Donate

It was during lockdown that the Trustees of the YHCT came up with the concept of a ‘Yorkshire Churches Day’. The day is an opportunity to raise much needed funds for places of worship in Yorkshire. The future of many churches is under threat due to crumbling roofs, windows and stonework. The YHCT works to ensure these places of worship are kept in good repair, recognising the contribution they make to society at large and the support they provide to local communities.

If you are visiting a participating church, please do consider becoming a Friend of the Trust – you will be joining a group of like minded people, passionate about preserving and maintaining places of worship and helping secure their future.

If you are opening up your place of worship, although entry must be free, we have suggested many fundraising ideas and ways to encourage donations. By taking part in Yorkshire Churches Day, you are helping all places of worship in Yorkshire as well as your own church. We’d encourage you to split any funds raised to the Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust, to help us continue to offer vital support to churches, chapels and meeting houses across Yorkshire. Do also consider joining as a Friend, you can see a list of all those places of worship that currently support us here:

A message of support from the Archbishop of York

Open Churches

Click below to see the places of worship opening up on 16 September

Do let us know if you plan to open and we’ll add you to the list

Open-churches-2023-3 Download

For inspiration and ideas of interesting days out visiting some of the best church heritage in the UK, check out the Explore Churches website .https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/explore