Happy 100th Birthday Bradford Cathedral

What a year! There have been arts projects, poetry written, bells rung, music composed, songs sung, lectures given and history rediscovered and retold.

Bradford Cathedral is closing its year of centenary celebrations on its 100th birthday this weekend with two very different events – both which go to the heart of its mission and ministry.

The Dean, the Very Revd Jerry Lepine said:
“2019 has been a tremendous year of an enlarged cathedral programme with many memorable highlights.

“This Sunday is the culmination of our centenary year, a year of celebration. It’s a moment when we can give thanks to God for all that has been and pray for all that will be in the future,’ he added.

On Saturday members of the chapter and congregation will be donning waterproofs and wellies for a tree planting day and Sunday will see a full church of everyone who has played a part in the life of the cathedral – past and present – for a service of thanksgiving – which will include the dedication of new kneelers – the culmination of a four-year community stitching project which has seen young and old pop into the cathedral to add a stitch.

Bradford Cathedral holds Eco Congregation status – the first cathedral to do so in the north of England.

It launched a woodland project in 2015 to offset the paper it uses in the cathedral, improve its carbon footprint, and to help green the locality and is committed to working with other conservation groups to reduce future flooding.

This Saturday they will be working with the council again to create a new planting area near Denso Marston Nature Reserve at Baildon.

Listen here to a poem created by the cathedral’s poet in residence especially for its centenary year, Diane Pacitti.