Earlier this year, Alan and Janet stepped down as the Pilots officers for the Yorkshire Synod, and Alan also stepped down from the Yorkshire Children & Youth Work Committee. Their service to the children and young people of the synod has spanned across 10 years (and more…)! At the end of July, Megan Tillbrook attended Heath URC to present the committed couple to a gift from the synod to thank them for their dedication and efforts over the years.
As part of the service, Megan and Karen Bridge (former PILOTS captain at Lightcliffe LEP), shared some stories of their ministry with Alan and Janet. You can read these memories below.
From Megan Tillbrook: Alan and Janet have both been a constant presence since I started my job with the Yorkshire synod in 2017. Alan was a member of the Children and Youth Work Committee (and essential in encouraging the synod to employ a youth and children’s practitioner at synod level) and part of the line management and support team once we were in post, and Janet was a synod pilots officer, along with Alan. I do not want to guess for how long, but I know that they have both been involved for a long time. When I say involved I mean committed in offering their time, their gifts and skills to get Jesus on the radar of children and young people. Because that is the work of the committee, and that is the work of pilots, albeit more creatively than a committee. So here is what I want to say thank you for…
Alan is a great encourager. He always found the time to send me a text or an email after events that I had been involved in organising, whether that be the BIG Day Out, a Committee Away Day or a Youth Residential, later that day I would always receive a short note of thanks and Alan would share something of his experience of the event. He gave me confidence, reassurance and encouragement in my abilities and in my work. Thank you 🙂
In recent years’ I know Alan worried that his lack of hands-on experience with children and young people made his membership on the CYWC less valuable. It didn’t. Alan’s commitment, passion and wisdom always made him a great person to have on your team.
Janet is such a refreshing person to be around. Over the years, and in particular since becoming a parent myself, I have valued Janet’s openness, kindness and honesty – no topic is off limits with Janet, and I always felt heard, understood and accepted.
From Ruth Roddison, former convenor of the Yorkshire Children and Youth Work Committee: I first met Alan 11 years ago when we both joined the
National children and youth work committee and I joined the Yorkshire committee. Alan and Janet were very involved in Yorkshire with Pilots, and also in their local church with Messy church. It soon became clear that they knew everyone! Despite working full time, Alan and Janet gave a lot of time to the development of children’s and youth work in their local area, in Yorkshire, (and beyond).
It was Alan and I who worked together to implement the Yorkshire big day out. We had helped with a national big day out and decided we should run one in Yorkshire. At the time there was no paid worker so together we developed, organised and coordinated what became a successful big day out, initially running alternate years at Flamingo land in North Yorkshire. Janet and Steve (my husband) were also involved with these days, particularly with the setting up, clearing up and general organisation on the day, simply by association, but willingly got stuck in. These days were well attended and brought the churches of Yorkshire together. I am aware of young people and adults, who were peripheral in churches, but attended the big day out and came to faith as a result.
Alan and Janet’s commitment over the years has touched and inspired many young, (and not so young) lives, they have both sacrificially given their time and energy to serving the Lord. I am sure their years of service are not over yet, and whatever they put their hand to in this next phase, I am sure they will be as committed and faithful to it as they have been in the past. We wish them all the best in this next stage of their lives.
From Margaret Knapton, Pilots captain at Hornsea United Reformed Church: Alan, to me, is one of those quiet encouragers who you don’t really notice as a leader, but his quiet personality and wicked humour was vital in making a gathering work – a bit of a catalyst really – which made our Pilots
gatherings great fun.
Janet and Alan made a great team – not only were they both passionate about Pilots and sharing the love of Jesus with children, but they complimented each other so well, with Janet’s bubbly enthusiasm and Alan’s organisation being a winning combination. We always left our meetings having learnt something new and with lots of joy. As time went on these get-togethers became more difficult to arrange but Alan and Janet continued to encourage companies with emails and phone calls and both were willing to travel – even to Hornsea – to offer support for all Pilots companies.
From Karen Bridge: I first met Alan a number of years ago (more years than I care to remember!) when he joined us at Lightcliffe URC Pilots to see how we ran our group as he was wanting to start his own Pilots group. Alan was an asset to us in return as he also shared his ideas and games with us. One year we also joined our Pilots groups together for a Pilot camp with Janet and my mum also coming as leaders along with others from our groups.
Alan and Janet’s sharing of ideas also continued at Lightcliffe URC and Christ Church Pilots, as well as other groups in our Synod, once they became Synod Pilots Officers for which I am grateful. They kept in contact with us and visited the sessions held in Lightcliffe on a Friday evening. Their combined enthusiasm and commitment made such a difference.