The Yorkshire Synod met in Harrogate on Saturday 14th March for its Spring 2026 meeting and couldn’t have asked for a much warmer welcoming than the hosts, West Park URC, offered. Just over 80 people from over half the churches in Synod filled the room to learn, listen and discern how the Synod is moving forward into 2026.
Synod was joined by General Assembly Moderator-elect, Revd Neil Thorogood, who led the morning session on Worship, the ways, the wherefores and the hows. This was an exploration of how to make worship a more relevant part of the Church’s life, how to make it be at the heart of the day to day life of our constituent churches and how it has a relevance to the wider world. The session incorporated group work, input from the Children and Youth team as well as our Racial Justice Advocate, Judy Rogers and cumulated in Synod sharing in Holy Communion.
The meeting was also an opportunity to introduce some new and some familiar faces. Jason Raddings was introduced as the new Yorkshire Synod Youth Representative and it was great to hear that Yorkshire’s own Kacie Hodgson is now serving as Moderator of URC Youth. Synod also greeted Jon Steel, who begins work as the Synod’s Training and Mission Enabler at Easter.
One of the photos above is Revd Jason McCullagh blowing out the candles on his cake (before it became a fire hazard😊), which was presented to him, as it was his birthday that day. Hopefully there was enough to go round.
Synod will meet again on 10th October 2026 at Moldgreen URC in Huddersfield and it is hoped that the work done in Harrogate can continue apace in Huddersfield later in the year.