Special thanksgiving service for the NHS to be held at Halifax Minster

The service, on Sunday, July 4, 4pm has been arranged to take place on the Sunday nearest to the 73rd birthday of the NHS which came into being on July 5, 1948, and will bring together Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group CCG.

It will be led by the Vicar of Halifax, Rev Canon Hilary Barber with the support of the faith communities across Calderdale and Kirklees, including the Trust’s Chaplaincy Team.

Canon Barber said: “The service is an opportunity for people to gather to give thanks for the extraordinary work of the National Health Service, which has served our nation since 1948.

“We will be remembering with thanks all those whose professional lives have been within the NHS, alongside the thousands of citizens who have benefited from NHS care, people who have been healed and cared for from the very beginning of their lives until the time when their lives in this world, are over and they rest now upon another shore.

“As the Pandemic continues, this service will take on an additional poignancy, as we will also be remembering especially NHS workers – among them doctors and nurses - who gave their lives in the service of caring for others.”

The Mayor and Mayoress of Calderdale and The Mayor and Mayoress of Kirklees will join health professionals at the service, and music will include a performance from Elland Silver Band of a piece specially commissioned by Brass Band England for NHS social care and frontline workers.

Sikh drummers will also be in attendance, along with the Halifax Town Crier, and a peel of bells will ring out ahead of the service.

At the end of the service, people will be invited to light a candle on the altar in the Minster’s Regimental Chapel in memory of a lost loved one or someone who is currently ill.

Church stewards will be on hand in both the Holdsworth and Rokeby Chapels to support with prayers if needed.

After the service refreshments will be served outside.

Covid-19 regulations will apply with hand sanitising, face masks, and social distancing in pews. Seating is limited and is by ticket only.

For further information and tickets, please visit https://halifaxminster.org.uk/ or contact Halifax Minster on 01422 355436

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