St Thomas' Church and Community

Leesfield Parish covers a wide and diverse area encompassing Lees, Knolls Lane, Holts, Park Bridge, Salem and Roundthorn. 

Our Vicar is Reverend Lyn Woodall, and we have two curates, Reverend Chris Steel and Reverend Mother Amy-Elizabeth Sheridan. We have two associate priests, Reverend Ruth Farrar and Reverend David Halford, and from time to time we have visiting preachers to lead our worship. There are also several lay people authorised to assist at the Eucharist, and many who do readings and lead Intercessions at our services.

A small but committed Pastoral Care Team, led by Reverend Ruth Farrar is extremely active in “taking the Church” out into the community. There are regular visits to Residential Care Homes in the area, and the team makes pastoral visits and takes Home Communion to parishioners who are no longer able to attend Church services.

We aim to encourage lay members of our congregations to explore their vocations, and "To grow as disciples of Christ and to share God’s love across the parish and beyond".

St Thomas' Church

The church of St. Thomas, Leesfield was most recently renovated between 1995 and 2004. The work totalled around £1 million which means that the Mother Church at St. Thomas is in generally good condition. It has its own splendid 3 Manual Organ and numerous stained glass windows. Four of these windows are by the Belgian stained glass artist, Jean Baptiste Capronnier which give a focal point to the west end of the church. It has a seating capacity of 600.  The design of the church by architect Mr Shellard was perpendicular Gothic, with a hammer beam roof and stained open wood tracery and involved the use of many ancient looking figure heads both inside and outside the building.

St Thomas' Church website and blog spot

To access St Thomas Church website and Blog please click on the link below.

To find out about when are services are held please click on the link Our Services

Please note

St Thomas Leesfield School cannot be responsible for any external content directed from our website.

http://leesfieldparish.blogspot.co.uk/

St Thomas Leesfield - A Church Near You website

Community Cohesion

We are a school committed to community cohesion. We have links with a school in Uganda and regularly endeavour to raise funds for those outside school, for example S.E.E.D and Operation Christmas Child.

We have established links with Westwood School within our locality, sharing theatre visits, outdoor pursuits at Castleshaw, Church Services, Forest Schools and Laticzone.

Every class is involved in their own “Business Challenge” which facilitates cohesion within the school. We are hoping to make a new link with a school in Manchester as a link with the wider reaches of the UK. St Thomas’ Leesfield CE School is an extremely busy member of the Oldham School’s linking Project! Our year 6 have shared a “Diversity Day” with Westwood School, enjoying Street Dance, Bollywood Dancing and DJ skills.

St Thomas’ Leesfield Sunday School

Please come along and join us at St. Thomas’ Leesfield Sunday School.  We are a friendly bunch who welcome all children from birth to Year 6.  We have an amazing and dedicated team of Sunday School helpers who are happy to get stuck in and encourage the children in their learning.  There are songs, stories, crafts, quizzes, games and activities which we start in the school hall immediately after the first hymn in church.  Sunday School lasts for about 40 – 50 minutes then we return to church to take Communion and be blessed and join the congregation singing the final hymn.  A normal Church service usually finishes about 12.15am.

The older children enjoy reading during a service and at an all age service the younger ones are also encouraged to take part, including singing and leading prayers.

We enjoy special events together such as Whit Walk, Sunday School Nativity on Christmas Eve, Easter Egg Hunt and our Parish Sponsored Walk.

Children should be signed in using the book at the back of church at 10.55am to ensure an orderly start to the service at 11am.  Signing in your child is very important for Health & Safety reasons, so that we know who is here in case of a fire and so that we have a record of your child’s attendance for your future reference.

Please note that the admissions criteria for the local C of E Primary and Secondary schools include parental attendance at Church in addition to children’s attendance at Sunday School.

You can find out more about our Sunday School and contact them by following their facebook page St Thomas Leesfield Sunday School

 

Uniformed Organisations

Leesfield Parish has a full range of Scout and Guide organisations to suit all ages. Girls are welcomed into scouts at St Agnes', so there are no guide meetings there.  Although our scout and guide groups attend some church services and events, they are completely separate to church, and membership is open to children of all faiths or none.  The organisations meet in the school halls, and a schedule of their regular meetings is shown below.

St Agnes Scouts - Monday 8.00pm to 9.30pm