Holy Rood House

Holy Rood House Welcome to Holy Rood House…a therapeutic centre, a home and a community. Hospitality lies at the heart of all we are and do. Do come and visit us!

We are here for you, and for many at a time of need. As well as professional, therapeutic support, or programmed events, our door is open for rest and relaxation, care for carers, spiritual retreat and accompaniment, training, study and sabbaticals or for a holiday. You are welcome to phone us and discuss your requirements. Holy Rood House is a charity with a gentle Christian ethos, providing safer space for those of us who are finding life unsafe. Since 1993 we have been pleased to welcome all kinds of people, of all ages, for all kinds of reasons from across Britain. We have found that once people know the right place for them – they are prepared to travel.

You are warmly invited to an informal viola recital byBRENDA STEWART(viola player of the Bingham String Quartet)...
09/04/2026

You are warmly invited to an informal viola recital
by
BRENDA STEWART
(viola player of the Bingham String Quartet)
on
Thursday 7th May 2026 starting at 7.30pm
at
Holy Rood House, 10 Front Street, Sowerby,
Thirsk (YO7 1HX)

The programme will include works by
Bach, Britten, Hindemith and Alsexy Igudesman

Tickets are £10 at the door on the night
and refreshments are included!

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! Alleluia.With our love and every blessing… and a few photos from our dawn service.
05/04/2026

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! Alleluia.

With our love and every blessing… and a few photos from our dawn service.

Holy Saturday With our love from Holy Rood and this prayer-poem by Jan RichardsonIN THE BREATH, ANOTHER BREATHINGA Bless...
04/04/2026

Holy Saturday

With our love from Holy Rood and this prayer-poem by Jan Richardson

IN THE BREATH, ANOTHER BREATHING
A Blessing for Holy Saturday

Let it be
that on this day
we will expect
no more of ourselves
than to keep
breathing
with the bewildered
cadence
of lungs that will not
give up the ghost.

Let it be
we will expect
little but
the beating of
our heart,
stubborn in
its repeating rhythm
that will not
cease to sound.

Let it be
we will
still ourselves
enough to hear
what may yet
come to echo:
as if in the breath,
another breathing;
as if in the heartbeat,
another heart.

Let it be
we will not
try to fathom
what comes
to meet us
in the stillness
but simply open
to the approach
of a mystery
we hardly dared
to dream.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons

Image of the tomb in our chapel

Today some of us joined Thirsk Churches Together for the Walk of Witness. A meditative and sombre time.Writer Jan Richa...
03/04/2026

Today some of us joined Thirsk Churches Together for the Walk of Witness. A meditative and sombre time.

Writer Jan Richardson’s words resonate:

All too quickly the breaking of the bread becomes the breaking of the flesh.

All too soon the cup offered at the table becomes the life poured out at the cross.

After the rending, after the emptying: an impossible stillness, an aching silence, an incomprehensible hollow for which no word will ever be adequate.

On this day that asks us to bear witness to what is breaking, may we not turn away.

STILL
A Blessing for Good Friday

This day
let all stand still
in silence,
in sorrow.

Sun and moon
be still.

Earth
be still.

Still
the waters.

Still
the wind.

Let the ground
gape in stunned
lamentation.

Let it weep
as it receives
what it thinks
it will not
give up.

Let it groan
as it gathers
the One
who was thought
forever stilled.

Time
be still.

Watch
and wait.

Still.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
janrichardson.com/books

Interested? Know someone who might be? Please drop me a line for further details and booking form - sibylle@holyroodhou...
25/03/2026

Interested? Know someone who might be? Please drop me a line for further details and booking form - sibylle@holyroodhouse.org.uk
Looking forward to hearing from you 😊

Feast of the Annunciation Holding Archbishop Sarah in our prayers on the day of her installation. A small excerpt from t...
25/03/2026

Feast of the Annunciation

Holding Archbishop Sarah in our prayers on the day of her installation.

A small excerpt from the poem 'Annunciation' by Denise Levertov:

"We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,
almost always a lectern, a book; always
the tall lily.

Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.

But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions
courage.

The engendering Spirit
did not enter her without consent.
God waited.

She was free
to accept or to refuse, choice
integral to humanness."

Happy Feast day and blessings of Mary, woman of courage to us all!

Icon written by Yvonne Bell - photo taken in our Sophia Chapel

Do check out the Events page on our website- we’ve added more information and booking forms for our forthcoming Quiet D...
23/03/2026

Do check out the Events page on our website- we’ve added more information and booking forms for our forthcoming Quiet Days and weekend retreats. From ‘Embracing Silence’ to ‘Awakening Wonder in our Everyday’ (a photography retreat), to a Solstice Retreat with earth art making and circle dancing, ‘Reading Novels to connect with the Divine’ … and we’ll be adding more events … https://www.holyroodhouse.org.uk/Groups/426712/Events.aspx. Early booking recommended!

And here’s a tray of lovely colourful roasted vegetables ready for tonight’s vegetarian lasagne- to whet your appetite!

Happy Equinox, welcome first day of spring!Hail the quickening of the year;hail the growing curve showing on the belly o...
20/03/2026

Happy Equinox, welcome first day of spring!

Hail the quickening of the year;
hail the growing curve showing
on the belly of the earth;
hail the beginning, the dawn-heart singing,
the gorgeous expectancy that the earth
will say amen to the new.

beautiful words by Gideon Heugh, and a beautiful photo of wild plum and forsythia in the Holy Rood garden by Mike Hall.

Looking for silence? Wanting to explore silence? Come and join us on Thursday 18 June for a day on Silence in the cont...
14/03/2026

Looking for silence? Wanting to explore silence? Come and join us on Thursday 18 June for a day on Silence in the contemplative Christian and Zen traditions. To book please email enquiries@holyroodhouse.org.uk or scan the QR code to take you to our events’ page.

Do join WATCH (Women and the Church) on Monday to share in worship with others who value prayers and worship that is cre...
12/03/2026

Do join WATCH (Women and the Church) on Monday to share in worship with others who value prayers and worship that is creative and inclusive in its words and images and stories. All warmly welcome.

Please register via the email address provided.

Address

Centre For Health & Pastoral Care, Holy Rood House, 10 Sowerby Road
Thirsk
YO71HX

Telephone

01845522580

Website

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