Daphne Clarke, an elder at Low Row, describes a visit to the Dale
Unique is a word frequently misused, but the visit of the Moderator of General Assembly to Swaledale surely fitted the description perfectly.
David Peel is well-known in the area, having ministered in Stockton-on –Tees from 1981 to1988, currently living in Durham and working for the Northern Synod. He loves the Yorkshire Dales, so it was no surprise to anyone to learn that he would like more than a simple preaching engagement on his visit at the beginning of April. He would like a walk.
Peter Clarke, previous Synod Clerk and an elder at the Low Row Church and the Church Secretary, Edward Brown, arranged a mediumly strenuous walk. Almost forty people left the car-park and walked, via Crackpot (since attaining national prominence through the vagaries of satellite navigation!) up the dale to Gunnerside where a welcome cuppa was waiting. This was arranged by Florence Bland, Circuit Steward at Gunnerside and an about-to-be member of Low Row. Although the sun shone the whole afternoon, there had been much rain in the previous days and the return walk along the northern side of the valley past the ruins of the original 1690 chapel at Smarber where a service is held every year, took longer than expected but was hugely enjoyed.
A traditional dales tea awaited the muddy arrivals, who were joined by a number of non-walkers. Nine churches from the old Durham and Teesside District were represented, plus a visitor from Prague, currently worshipping in Durham. The service, led by another Low Row elder, Daphne Clarke, got under way a little late. The minister, Julie Martin, began her welcome to the Moderator by saying that in this, her first rural ministry, she was learning a lot but that this was the first time she had spoken in her socks! David spoke about our being church in today’s world and not trying to recreate the church of yesteryear.
At the close of the service, Peter Clarke presented the Moderator with a locally-carved shepherd’s crook and expressed the hope that he would find it useful during the rest of his moderatorship.
Early the following morning, David was interviewed at length by Mark Turnbull on the Religious Affairs programme on Radio Cleveland where he gave insights into the role of the Moderator of General Assembly and the position of the United Reformed Church in the nation’s life. He then went on to lead morning worship at his old church, St. Andrew and St. George in Stockton, before driving across to Keld in upper Swaledale, probably the highest church in the denomination at around 1000 feet.
The church is at the centre of this tiny hamlet, which is home to the Northern Synod’s Retreat Centre, set in one of the most beautiful parts of the Yorkshire Dales. A full church heard the Moderator speak about the church’s varied and historic path through history and encouraged people to embrace diversity and ecumenicity and, again, to resist the urge to return to the past: we must always be a church on the move.
At the close of the service, the Moderator was asked to dedicate the newly-created Mission Partnership banner. At the beginning of the service, the minister of the three-churches in the Tees/Swale partnership, Julie Martin, had commented that, although she had learned a lot from David when a student at Northern College, ringing the church bell had not been one of them. The Moderator retaliated by saying that he had never been asked to dedicate a banner before. Carrying the crook he had received the previous day, he blessed the six-part banner. Each church:- Barnard Castle, Darlington, Keld, Low Row and Northallerton had created an image of its own church and area and these were arranged together in the form of a cross with URC logo in the centre. This whole banner can then be dismantled and taken round the churches.
The weekend concluded with a typically lavish Dales’ tea in the Village Hall and a drive home for the Peels across wild, barren moorland after a busy but much enjoyed visit.