The Old Bell Chapel Action Group

From time to time we have been publishing some of the events and activities organised by the Old Bell Chapel Action Group in Thornton, UK. Recently, the local newspapers covered their last event:

Limited edition plates that are the product of a well-known artist’s visit to a Bradford village are on sale.
West Yorkshire artist Ashley Jackson entertained a crowd of more than 50 people at Thornton as he painted a watercolour.
Mr Jackson was in the birthplace of the Brontë children to paint the Brontë Bell Chapel. He was invited by Steve Stanworth in the summer to judge the Brontë Bell Chapel 400th anniversary art festival.
Mr Stanworth said: “I had read that Ashley wanted to do with the brush what the Brontës had done with the pen. I thought he would be perfect to do the judging.
“I took him on a tour of the Brontë Bell Chapel and he offered to paint a picture of the Brontë Bell Chapel and we could sell tickets to watch the event. Dunoon potters in Stoke have produced a fantastic bone china limited edition of 360 plates.”
These are to be sold to raise funds for the St James Roof fund and the old bell chapel action group.
The cost is £24.95.
Contact Mr Stanworth via the group’s Facebook page or website or call him on 07786 028889.

The Old Bell Chapel Groud define themselves like this in their webpage:

This year we are celebrating 400 years of St. James Church in Thornton. In the grounds (and graveyard) opposite the modern day St. James Church on Thornton Road in Thornton, you will discover the remains of a building with interesting architecture and a very interesting history.
Before 1612 the building was known as ‘Saint Leonards’. For those who enjoy their historical facts, this was at the time when King James was on the throne and a year earlier, in 1611, the King James bible was first published.
After this date the name changed to ‘Saint James’. No one knows the reason for the name change. All we do know, is that a group of local people, including Precilla Bannister and the local freemasons, with the Lord of the Manor, rebuilt the existing chapel and changed the name to St James.
In more recent times we have come to affectionately know the building as ‘Bell Chapel’ or ‘Brontë Bell Chapel’. ‘Brontë Bell Chapel’ is a reference to one of the most recognised times in the Chapel’s history. The Brontë’s were the most famous people baptised in the chapel and Patrick Brontë preached there from 1815 -1820. Thornton village is also the birthplace of the these famous literary figures.
Restoration of the graveyard and the Brontë Bell Chapel began in 2000.
Gradually, like minded people who had an interest in both the history of the Chapel and in the potential of the whole graveyard area for people to enjoy in the future began to find each other. These people had skills in (or were willing to try) gardening, woodwork, landscaping and general labouring.
As numbers grew, the Old Bell Chapel Action group was formed.
We are proud of our achievements in making Brontë Bell Chapel and surrounding graveyard a place where people can now visit to enjoy it’s history, beauty and nature. We have also erected an information board for visitors and created a wilderness corner, recycling bay and bird nesting project. We continue to meet regularly to continue to maintain the grounds.

And they have a new project:

We are in the process of writing a publication to celebrate 400 years. It will combine historical information and prints, with a selection of art work and photography.
Could you help us to fund our publication?
If so, Steve, our Group Coordinator, would love to hear from you.