Volunteers from Horsforth Churches Together have been sharing Bible stories, faith, fun and the love of God with children and young people in Horsforth for many years. The main activities for schools at the moment are (click on the title to jump to that section):
- Assemblies in Primary Schools (Open the Book) – once every half term in each school reaching over 2000 children
- Rewind to Easter / Rewind to Christmas interactive half-day sessions for Primary Schools children each year – 300 children each time
- High School lunchtime groups (Connect etc) for years 7, 8, 9, 10 and a sixth form group; plus providing 5 back to back Christmas Assemblies for all year groups each year
There is always room for more volunteers so please get in touch if one of these sounds like something you would like to get involved in!
‘Open the Book’ – Assemblies in Primary Schools
Every half term volunteers lead a short assembly in each of the Primary Schools in Horsforth, using the ‘Open the Book’ resources, including a song, a simple acting out of a Bible story, a reflection and a prayer. It’s a wonderful way of getting the children involved in the story in an engaging way. We have found this has greatly increased the ‘Bible literacy’ of children in Horsforth by the time they arrive in High School. Feedback from the children and teachers is very positive, with children stopping volunteers in the street to say ‘I love Open the Book, when are you coming next?’, and singing the special song to them!
There is a rota and volunteers meet before each assembly to rehearse. No previous acting skills needed! DBS check is required. The time is usually an hour or so between 8am and 10.30am on one or two days each half term (see below for specific timings).
You can read more about Open the Book by clicking on the image.
See what the kids think in this interview!
To find out more about volunteering, please contact
Duncan Stow on duncan@horsforthchaplaincy.org or Lynne Gillions on lgillions@yahoo.com
Current Primary School Schedule (includes rehearsal before going into the schools). Sessions are run once every half term, visiting each school over a period of just over one week. You can do just one slot each half term or more if you would like to.
| Mondays | 8am – 10.15am | Broadgate Lane & St Margaret’s |
| Tuesdays | 9am – 10.30am | Westbrook Lane |
| Wednesdays | 8am – 9.30am | West End |
| Thursdays | 9am – 10.30am | St Mary’s Catholic |
| Following Monday | 8am – 10.30am | Featherbank & Newlaithes |
Rewind to Christmas / Rewind to Easter – interactive half days for kids
Originally based on Scripture Union material, the Rewind sessions uses a highly engaging combination of games, craft, activities, film clips, stories and teaching, to help children develop their understanding of why Christians celebrate Easter and Christmas. It is designed to feel like ‘rewinding’ to the actual events to experience what happened, including ‘meeting’ characters from the story, as well as encouraging the children to ‘wonder’ for themselves about the events and people in the stories.
School groups visit a central location, usually at the same time as classes from another local school, contributing to community cohesion. They are organised into small groups for a mix of upfront and group activities, each group led by a volunteer, and includes refreshments.
Volunteers are needed for leading a small group, helping with craft, helping with refreshments;
If you would like to get involved please email Duncan on duncan@horsforthchaplaincy.org
(DBS required)
Year 5 children from all the Schools attend Rewind to Easter in March/April and Year 4 children attend Rewind to Christmas in late November/early December. The next dates (Easter 2026) are Friday 20th March at Lister Hill Baptist Church and Tues 24th March at Emmanuel Baptist Church, morning and afternoon sessions.
Horsforth High school lunchtime groups
A small team with youth work experience runs regular Christian Lunchtime groups in Horsforth School, the High School for this area.
Each group meets fortnightly in term time, and includes time to relax, play fun games, chat and explore faith and life. Here’s some feedback from the young people about Connect:
In addition, the team is sometimes asked to do some RE lessons about Christianity, and runs Christmas Assemblies near the end of the Autumn term for all year groups.