 
Pontefract is a small town in the West Riding of Yorkshire and probably most famous for its ancient association with the cultivation of the liquorice root by local monastic orders who used it for its perceived medicinal properties. Pontefract may be a small town when compared with its near neighbours Leeds and Wakefield but it has been blessed with a long history extending back to the Doomsday Book, and beyond to the Roman occupation of England.
However, this short history is concerned with more recent times. We are concerned here with the founding and development of the Pontefract Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A 'ward' is a local congregation of the LDS Church, a church which although having its headquarters in Salt Lake City Utah is extending world-wide at considerable speed and has been described by the Lord himself as "...the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased." (D&C1:30) Standing at Park Villas Drive, opposite the famous Pontefract Racecourse is the newly constructed Pontefract Ward Meeting House, a beautifully appointed building topped with a glistening white spire which has attracted the attention and favourable comments of many of the towns residents. It stands in the old Tanshelf area of the town, an area which is among the oldest settled areas in the locality and housed a Saxon palace of the old kingdom of Elmet. The meeting house is scheduled to be dedicated by Elder John Maxwell of the Seventy, a member of the Area Presidency, on Sunday June 25th 2000. When the dedication takes place and the dedicatory prayer is offered it will mark the culmination of the hopes of the members living in the area for decades, and will serve as a symbol of sacrifice and dedication extending into the past and an invitation to further participate in the growth and establishment of the Church into the future. Little is known of the earliest contact the town had with missionaries of the LDS Church, but it is known that in the 1920's a local police officer was dispatched to nearby Ferrybridge to check out two missionaries from a strange American sect who had taken up residence in the village. He was able to report that the Mormon missionaries were no threat to the local inhabitants! Through the 1930's and 40's a number of attempts were made to establish a branch of the church, sometimes the attempt was made in Pontefract and at other times a location was sought in nearby Castleford. Rooms were hired above a bus garage in Pontefract and above a Castleford shop, presently the site of a building society. During these times both Elder and Sister missionaries from America were labouring in the area and the Elders often served as the branch presidency, conducting the meetings and receiving the tithes of the faithful members. Among the members of the branch at this period in the 40's and 50's were a Sister Schofield, and her son John and his wife Kathleen and Sister Elizabeth Whittaker, a long standing member of the church who had originally joined the church in Bradford in 1919 after hearing missionaries preach at a street meeting, this small band of faithful members would later be joined by Sister Alice Arundel. The progress of the branch was slow, the availability of missionaries was limited and the branch was discontinued and restarted several times during the 1950's and 60's. During the times when the local branch was not established the group of members mentioned above often walked from Castleford to Bradford and later to Leeds when public transport was unavailable, to meet with other latter-day saints. In 1961 Sister Whittaker's daughter Margaret was baptised, along with Margaret's husband, Harold Renwick Kear. In the early 1970's the local members of the church began to attend services in the Wakefield Ward, located in the Huddersfield England Stake. Eventually the leadership of the Stake began to examine the feasibility of re-establishing the church's presence in Pontefract itself and a dependent branch comprising of Harold and Margaret Kear, Kath and John Schofield, Elizabeth Whittaker, Alice Arundel, and Doreen Walton began meeting in 1974 at the home of recent converts Martin and Maureen King on Western Avenue in the Cobblers Lane Estate. The full-time missionaries assigned to work in the area soon began to see results for their labour with several baptisms and a new location was sought for the growing band of saints. The branch rented rooms in Carleton Community Centre, a rambling Victorian building, and received greater autonomy with the calling of Jeffrey Day, then a member of the Dewsbury Ward, as its first Branch President. Because the local members had no baptismal font of their own, baptismal candidates had to travel to the Dewsbury Ward meeting house to receive the ordinances of baptism and confirmation. About this time, some of the long standing members of the church such as the Schofields and Kear's and Sister Whittaker were finally able to make the long drive to the London Temple to receive the endowment and their sealing blessings. The time spent at Carleton Community Centre was often challenging but very rewarding. Because the rented rooms served as function rooms for weddings etc on Saturdays; each Sunday, before early morning priesthood meetings and Sunday school services could begin the saints would have to sweep the cigarette stubs from the floor, gather up stray beer glasses and open the windows to clear the air of the smell of stale nicotine and beer. Later during sacrament meeting the reverence would often be disturbed by the doors opening as local people searched for the bar! There were many baptisms occurring during this time. The Barkers, the Hickmans, Iris Pogmore (who would serve several times as Relief Society President) Miriam and Arthur Stevens and their four children, were baptised, as were Angela, Annette and Sandra Carter, Lilly and Dawn Miller and many others. Later in 1975 President Jeffrey Day was released and Brother Harold R. Kear was called to serve as branch president. Brother Kear was a humble man, totally dedicated to lifting individuals and strengthening them along with his counsellors, men like John Schofield, who were also ready to sacrifice their valuable free time to ensure that the youth of the church were able to attend the many events of the Huddersfield Stake. Brother Kear would later be released and serve as the first Pontefract priesthood holder to serve on a High Council. The sisters of the branch also spent endless hours in service in the Relief Society, many of the young adult members today will recall the Primary lessons given by Kath Schofield and by Sister Whittaker, who was known to all members, old and young alike as 'Grandma' Whittaker. Members were again on the lookout for better facilities. Arthur Stevens spotted a deserted Christian Science building in the Park Villas area of town. It was set back from the main road and was surrounded by trees and a huge growth of weeds and nettles; a few weeks later after negotiations with the few remaining Christian Science members in the area, who had not used the building for some time, President Kear, Brother Stevens and others of the branch's leaders were able to enter the building to assess its suitability for the saints use. A few weeks later, in August 1977 permission was given to rent the building and members began to clear the under growth from around it. The interior was decorated and the youth used it to make preparations to participate in the Stake roadshow, Sunday meetings continued to be held in the Community Centre. The interior was filled with very comfortable cinema style seats which were very popular with the members but which were later removed and replaced with a supply of plastic seats when the chapel area was divided to create a cultural hall space. When the Christian Science building was first constructed in the 1920's a very young John Schofield had played on the building site! The first missionary to serve from the Pontefract Branch was called at this time when Elaine Kear was called to serve in the England Bristol Mission.
In 1979 President Kear was called to serve on the Huddersfield Stake High Council, at his release as branch president in July 1979, Brother Kear was succeeded by Brother David Cartwright, a quite recent convert from Knottingley. Brother Cartwright selected Bill Covington and John Dickinson to serve in the branch presidency with him. President Cartwright led the branch until his release in February 1981, the new branch president was Vincent R. Wigglesworth, who had been serving as president of the elders quorum. Brothers John Schofield and Ronald Harvey served as his counsellors. During President Wigglesworth's presidency the Huddersfield Stake was divided and the stakes around it were reorganised. The Pontefract Branch found itself relocated in a newly reorganised Leeds England Stake. Stake President Douglas Rawson and his counsellors Bryan Midgley and Alan Bowden soon visited the branch to meet the leadership and members and help them assimilate into the new stake. President Wigglesworth gave several brethren the opportunity to serve with him in the branch presidency during the seven years (to the very day) that he served. Graham Wilkinson, Nick Ireland and Robert Stevens all served as his counsellors. Sister Phyllis Wilkinson served as Relief Society president also for a period of about seven years. In February 1988, Leeds Stake President Bryan Midgley extended a release to President Wigglesworth, Vincent was moving from the area to work in Aberdeen and eventually in Norway. His first counsellor, Graham Wilkinson was called as branch president. Robert Stevens and Barry Turner were sustained as his counsellors. President Wilkinson conducted the funeral of Sister Iris Pogmore, who had long been admired by the membership for her long service as president of the Relief Society during the presidencies of Brothers Kear, Cartwright and Wigglesworth, and also the funeral of a much loved member of the elders quorum, Brother Claude Newsome, a man whose broad Yorkshire accent is still missed among the brethren. Brothers John Jenkinson and Duncan Plant, David Bottoms and Robert Jeans were also to see service in the branch presidency during this period as counsellors to Graham Wilkinson. Kay Turner, Sandra Ward and Elizabeth Bonnefoy- Jenkinson brought their particular talents to bear in their assignments to serve as presidents of the Relief Society during this time. The presidency of the Leeds Stake, Ian Hancock, Evan Kitsell and Robert Dryden were instrumental in keeping the momentum going to help Pontefract Branch finally have a purpose built meeting house of its own and a search was made for suitable land. The old building was becoming increasingly inadequate for a growing membership and a temporary 'portakabin' had earlier been acquired to add much needed teaching space. However it was finally decided to construct a new chapel on the same site as that occupied by the Christian Science building which the church had actually purchased in the early 80's. Plans were drawn up and the wheels set in motion but it would still take several more years until the stake and branch's vision would come to fulfillment. At the November 1993 stake conference Graham Wilkinson was called to serve on the Leeds England Stake High Council, and was released as Pontefract's branch president in early December. A member who had moved into the branch from the Wakefield Ward, Lance Jackson, was called to serve as the branch's sixth president. He would actually be its last! Brother Jackson was a semi- professional opera singer and had been able to persuade several of his colleagues in that field to share their talents through a series of concerts held in the church's building. Entitled 'An Evening of Beautiful Music' these concerts were very successful in strengthening the local members and also in bringing the Church to the awareness of the wider community. A special stake conference was held in the Grand Theatre Leeds on November 24th 1996. It was momentous occasion. Elder Cecil O. Samuelson of the Seventy dissolved the old Leeds Stake and created the new Leeds Stake and the new York England Stake. At that meeting the Pontefract Branch became the Pontefract Ward and its last branch president was ordained its first bishop. The new Pontefract Ward was now located in the York Stake, Bishop Jackson had John Jenkinson and John Burdon sustained as his counsellors. Sisters Sandra Wilkinson, Rae Bottoms, Beth Jenkinson and Sarah Freeman would serve as the Relief Society Presidents In mid 1998 Pontefract's second bishop was sustained. Paul J. Freeman, who with his wife Sarah and their boys had moved into the Ward from the Preston Ward. Robert Stevens and James Marran were sustained to the bishopric with him. Bishop Freemans call required the release of his wife Sarah from the Relief Society presidency, the new bishop extended the call to Julie Jeans to serve as the society's president. During Bishop Freeman's tenure the announcement was made that finally construction was to begin on the new meeting house. The members were thrilled and temporary quarters were found to hold meeting at CISWO, (Coal Industry Social & Welfare Organisation) a disabled miners centre not far from the chapel. In August 1999 the final sacrament meeting was held in the old building, the Wards microfilm readers and family history records, carefully gathered by Sister Peggy Sargent and others several years before, its membership records and financial records etc were dispersed among the homes of the leadership. Screens used for class rooms were taken to CISWO along with hymn books, music stands, blackboards and so on as the saints met once again in temporary accommodation. In late August/early September the building that had served the saints since 1977 was demolished and work began to clear the site and begin construction. As the bulldozers prepared to move in Elders Quorum President Ken McRitchie began to keep a photographic record of the progress of the new chapel. Members worked hard to keep the programmes of the church running while the building was under construction. Youth meetings and Home-making took place in members homes and occasionally on week nights at CISWO if rooms were available. Finally in early May 2000 the brand new chapel was ready for use and Bishop Freeman led the saints in gathering the dispersed materials and equipment and church meetings were again held at Park Villas Drive. Early June brought the exciting news of the call of third generation latter-day saint Craig Stevens to serve a full-time mission in the Australia Melbourne West Mission. Bishop Freeman and his family were preparing to move home again at this time, a move which would take them out of the Stake so on June 11th 2000, President Clark Thiriot of the York Stake directed the release of Bishop Freeman and the calling of Francis Kendall as Pontefract Wards third Bishop. Bishop Kendall and his wife Brenda had moved into the Ward from the Leeds Stake some time earlier. The new bishop called Graham Wilkinson and Gerrard Burnell as his counsellors. Among the new bishoprics first duties would be the Open Houses and dedication of the long awaited new chapel. It has fallen to Bishop Kendall to help the Ward grasp the opportunities and meet the challenges of this new century as a new chapel, new bishopric and the occasion of the first young man to be called from this ward as a full-time missionary all converge in this millennial year. Written by Graham Wilkinson |
