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The History of the Industrial
Mission
in the Selby Area |
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The History of the Industrial
Mission
in the Selby Area |
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Originally industrial mission was based around one person - the Selby Coalfield Chaplain. As the title suggests, when the mission was first formed it operated within the coal industry alone with one full-time chaplain (Revd Gwynne Richardson) appointed for a two year pilot period. This was in January 1978. The work was favourably received and the chaplain was re-appointed for a further five years at the end of this pilot period to "work with Industry, Community and Churches in their response to the changes arising from the Selby Coalfield Development". The first chaplain was joined by further part-time colleagues
as the mission developed. In October 1981 Revd Ralph Messer was appointed
to forward chaplaincy with the agricultural industry and also to have
an interest in unemployment issues. In April 1982 another
part-time chaplain (Revd John Ritchie) was appointed to forward work with
the Central Electricity Generating Board, as it was then. Drax Power
Station, the largest coal-fired station in Western Europe, was chosen as
his base station . In the years 1983 the title of the chaplaincy changed to the Selby Coalfield Industrial Chaplaincy to indicate not only one of the largest supporting industries but also the geographical district which the chaplaincy served. During this time, Ralph Messer progressed work with other local industries...notably the flour mill and paper mill. The chaplaincy, from its earliest days, was concerned to involve itself in wider community issues and also to include non-clerical colleagues. In the latter part of 1984, Mrs Vera St. Paul and Mr George Fairhurst were authorised as lay chaplains. Vera was part sponsored by the Girl's Friendly Society and the County Youth Service as well as the church. Her area of work was youth and community issues. George was given responsibility for unemployment concerns. Around the same time, the ecumenical aspects of industrial mission were addressed. A Methodist minister from Castleford, Revd John McCarthy, began chaplaincy work at Ferrybridge A & B power station. Early in the following year another Methodist minister, Revd Harold Jones from Pontefract, began work at the remaining Ferrybridge C site. The local Selby United Reformed Church had been consulting with their denominational authorities for an appointment to Selby on a 50% pastor/50% industrial chaplain basis. This came to fruition in February 1985 with the arrival of Revd Ken Harris, initially for a five year term, to serve at Selby URC and Eggborough power station. In 1987 one of the elders of Selby URC, Mr Geoffrey Lawrence, became treasuruer of SCIC. 1988 brought further development and a sad farewell. George Fairhurst, who had been one of the first lay chaplains and a staunch advocate of industrial mission, died in the October. The summer of that year saw Revd John Davis arrive as vicar of Carlton and Drax; John would follow John Ritchie as chaplain to Drax power station over the course of the next few months. In the autumn Ken Harris begain chaplaincy work at the Selby Shipyard. Another new arrival was Revd Julian Dunn as priest in charge of Micklefield; he would take over chaplaincy at the Gascoigne Wood mine and explore other opportunities as the industrial estate around Sherburn in Elmet began to be developed. The latter part of the decade brought the privatisation of the electricity industry. The CEGB was replaced by National Power and Powergen. Ferrybridge power stations were allocated to Powergen and moved out of SCIC's domain; Eggborough and Drax became National Powr sities and remained with SCIC. Roman Catholic involvement with the chaplaincy was cemented when Fr Tim Bywater, parish priest of Howden, joined the chaplaincy team to extend the work to the Selby Mines Rescue station at Osgodby. Also, the URC reaffirmed its commitment to industrial mission with the re-appointment of Ken Harris for a further five years. Gwynne's period as Senior Chaplain came to a close in 1992 and Canon Ron Mitchinson was appointed as his successor. Gwynne remained as a part-time chaplain with a brief to continue exploring the possibility of work within the Sherburn area. Vera's work with the community extended to homelessness issues
which culminated in her involvement with the opening of a hostel in Selby.
Ken left the area during 1992 and was replaced by Revd Michael
Wear at Selby URC on the same 50% basis.
Ship building in Selby drew to a close around this time. In early 1994, Revd John Davis was given a three-month sabbatical
leave to examine the place of agriculture within the local economy and
community. At that time, the surprising result was that agriculture
in the area employed in the region of four times more personnel than the
national average. The decision was made to refresh the chaplaincy
links with the agricultural industry with John acting as part-time chaplain.
Michael took Drax over from John and the chaplaincy there was
unaffected. This awareness of the importance of the agricultural
industry to the economy and community is reflected in the adoption of a
new logo for SCIC which incorporates a mine, cooling tower, mill and tractor. 1994 also saw the end of British Coal and the rise of a new
company RJB Mining plc, which would operate the Selby complex. The mid-nineties brought a reorganisation of local government. This led to a reduction in the workforce at Selby District Council Offices of one-third. Ron developed a much-appreciated chaplaincy role there during that traumatic period. The arrival of Revd Jonas Mdumulla as Vicar of Carlton and Drax gave the opportunity for this work to continue after Ron's retirement in August 1996. Vera's work continued and embraced community education and drug issues; Michael, meanwhile, began to visit Rigid Paper mill on a regular basis. Revd Dr John Roden became Senior Chaplain on a part-time basis in October 1996 and continued the chaplaincy to the coalfield. Concerns were beginning to be raised again with regard to the long-term future of the Selby coalfield as government vacillated on energy policy. It was in the 1997/8 annual chaplaincy report that John Roden expressed pessimism for the production of deep coal from 2002 onwards....prophetic words as it turned out. Sadly, financial support for Vera's post was lost and she retired from the chaplaincy at the end of 1997. However, Revd Marian Dixon became Methodist minister for Sherburn and contributed a half-day per week to industrial mission. As the industrial estate housed in excess of forty companies, it was unclear as to how this work might be forwarded in a meaningful way. Marian noted in her 1999 report: "I know that any work which helps to make connections between the world of work and the world of church is enormously valuable, so I continue to add my half days, drop by drop knowing that what I do is a vital part of the mission of the Church". She left the chaplaincy in the summer of 2000 with the challenge: "If the church in all its diversity is going to take seriously the work of Industrial Chaplains, more resources must be made available in order that the 'scratching of the surface' can become an integral part of the church's work". Jonas alerted the chaplaincy to the constantly changing work patterns within local government which required a high degree of adaptability from the workforce. This constant change, in itself, can be a source of pressure. Could the chaplaincy learn from other industrial team's experience in this field? The power industry regular required National Power to reduce its company generating capacity by 6,000 megawatts (Drax generates 4,000MW at full capacity). The result was that Drax was put up for sale, eventually being bought by the American company AES. This brought a difference coporate culture to Drax with four stated "shared principles": Integrity, Fairness, Fun, and Social Responsibility. May 2000 also saw RJB Mining agreeing a £700 million contract with Drax's owner. The new millenium also brought a change of name for the chaplaincy; it became the Selby Coalfield and District Industrial Mission...a change which reflected concern for its ministry to the Selby district as a whole. It was also felt that the work of SCADIM should be reviewed; Canon Stuart Pearson undertook this in 2001. As a result the management structure was changed and recommendations made...these can be accessed from the home page link to Pearson Review. It is perhaps worth noting here that, with the trauma of the Foot and Mouth Epidemic, notice was given of the desirability of SCADIM having a dedicated agricultural missioner. A change of name was also given to RJB Mining, which became UK Coal plc. and involved the inevitable restructuring with concommitant reduncancies. Revd Darlene McCarley replaced Marian as Methodist minister at Sherburn and was again likewise welcomed into the SCADIM team with the brief to work on the industrial estate. Her first report noted that, because of the small nature of many of the firms, IM there requires "good, old-fashioned pastoral style of approach - which is, of course, time intensive". She still had only a half-day allocation per week to offer. Other chaplains have also noted that, even in single locations, visits take longer as their ministry becomes known and sought. Is their a different model that chaplains could use? This has been the subject of Industrial Mission Association debate. The area was badly affected by flooding in the winter of 2000/1. SCADIM's local "credentials" were evident as Jonas was able to offer support to those involved on behalf of all the team. It became clear as 2002 that the coalfield would close within two to three years. In fact, closure will be complete by the summer of 2004. The net result in job terms will be 2,000 mining jobs lost with another 2,500 in supporting industries. All this against a background of unemployment in excess of 9% in some parts of the Selby area. With the advice and help of the Churches Regional Commission for Yorkshire and the Humber, local churches and SCADIM have sought, through a feasability study, to assess what role the church might play alongside other organisations in helping miners, their families and others come to terms with their changed circumstances and what provisions might be made....this is on-going at the present time. Darlene McCarley left the Chaplaincy through ill-health in the summer of 2003, once again raising the question of industrial mission in Sherburn. She was replaced as Methodist minister by Revd Rory Dagleish. As 2003 drew to a close, John Roden retired and, as indicated earlier, Revd John Davis returned to the area as full-time, senior chaplain with an agricultural brief; the diocese having agreed to the post becoming full-time and allowing a former parsonage to be used to house him. As 2004 begins, the chaplaincy faces many challenges: what to do about Sherburn, the nature of the support to be given to those made redundant with the closure of the mines, addressing the fact that new industry is springing up in Selby along the new Selby bypass corridor, and the fact that funding for chaplaincy work has been reduced....UK Coal plc (and its previous owners) gave much financial support. John is certainly clear that industrial mission is a vital piece of complementary ministry alongside all the other minstries that the church engages in...even more so as parochial clergy become more stretched. A mutual recognition of the value of each other's work would not be amiss! John's chaplaincy role was extended towards the end of 2004 with the addition of a part-time chaplaincy to Askham Bryan College of Agriculture and Horticulture; this, together with the Rural Officer post for the York Archdeaconery, much enhanced his agricultural brief. The value of being a full-time chaplain allows John to network with many other bodies...both statutory and voluntary, local and regional. Again, in the last quarter of the year, another colleague was welcomed to the team, Revd Linda Day (Methodist) to initiate chaplaincy work with Selby College...both on the campus and in its adult and community education programme. Our long association with the URC pastorate in Selby continues to thrive. Revd Michael Weir retired in 2005. Within a few months, we were joined by Revd Jaroslav Raich. Jaroslav has continued in the roles that Michael fulfilled in the power, engineering and paper milling industries. With the closure of the coalfield and the beginning of new pieces of work, it seemed the right time to reflect on the name which we have had since 2000. The end-product of this is the name "The Selby Communities and District Industrial Mission". We hope that this better reflects the fact that we work in a variety of "communities", both church-based and community-based. In December 2005 Revd John Davis was elected to the Council of the regional interfaith body, the Yorkshire and Humber Faiths Forum; John is one of 9 Christian members of the 21-seat Council. Drawing on the experience of being a Council member sitting and working alongside members of eight other major world faiths, John became aware that there was a need to raise awareness of the real people behind the faith labels in this post 9/11 and 7/7 situation. As a response to this he wrote a resource book "One Country - Many Faiths" which gives a brief overview of the nine major faiths, allows people from within them to give voice to what it means to them to be a person of that faith, provides five worksheets to initiate discussion and points to other relevant literature and websites. The book can be downloaded from the "Occasional Publications" page of this website, alternatively, hard copies can be obtained on request free of charge (except cost of postage). The credit crunch of 2008 began to bite in the Selby area with the closure of both small and large businesses. One of these was Rigid Paper Mill where we had a chaplain in place. On the positive side, the opportunity arose to place a chaplain in Kellingley Colliery. One of our executive members, Revd Geoff Shutt, is providing one session per week at this site. Kellingley was not part of the Selby Coalfield but, when the Selby complex closed, quite a few miners transferred there.
For a photo diary of the Chaplaincy, please click on the appropriate
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