Two of the most common remarks I heard from members of the public in my first years in post at Bradford Cathedral were, “I’ve lived in Bradford all my life and never been in the cathedral,” and “I didn’t know until now that Bradford had a cathedral.” This situation in itself presented us with quite a challenge. A large part of our work in recent years has been to make Bradford Cathedral more known and more accessible to all those in the local area and beyond.
We also set out to become a beacon and a resource for local schools and educational institutions, achieved by: widening our educational offering to cater right across the age range from nursery age to adult; adapting delivery and materials to become more inclusive and relevant to children and young people of all faiths and none; and energising the whole offering by using the building, its features and history in a more dynamic and interactive way. We actively engage with those children and young people living in our communities who might otherwise be unlikely to visit the Cathedral – due to socio-economic, as well as ethnic and/or cultural barriers. For many of the children with whom we work, their visit is likely to be the first time they have entered a place of Christian worship. This applies equally to children from both white British and BAME backgrounds.
Educational visits have almost trebled since the period 2013-2017, when an average of around 1,000 children and young people visited Bradford Cathedral. In 2023 we had 3,043 children and young people for educational visits (from nursery-18 years). We are on course for a similar or higher figure for 2024.
One of the things we are passionate about is providing opportunities to give Bradford and District children and young people “awe and wonder” experiences on their own doorstep, showing them beauty, even in one of the most deprived areas of Britain. We also aim to share the depth and range of Bradford’s history, as can be seen on the Cathedral site. Most local history, for children and adults, tends to focus on Bradford’s development from the period of the Industrial Revolution onwards, but our educational visits, including an optional costumed experience for children, detail the significant events in Bradford and the Cathedral’s history all the way back to Saxon times, when monks came to this hillside above the broad ford and brought Christianity to this area and site.
Fragments of Saxon stones in our walls transport children back to that time and provide them with the evidence of Bradford’s long and colourful history. We might not be York Minster or Westminster Abbey, but children and young people who come here are inspired by this long-standing site of Christian worship and treasure-store of Bradford’s history, often returning to show their own parents and share what they have learnt! Bradford is currently one of the youngest cities by demographic in the UK and among its most diverse.We want all the children of Bradford to grow up with a knowledge and understanding of Christianity and of Bradford’s long history, through their positive educational interaction with this building. The legacy aspect of our work is important to us.
We are located in one of the most deprived local authority areas in England, ranking 19th out of 326 nationally. The City ward in which the Cathedral is situated is amongst the 10% most deprived in the country. Poverty, unemployment, poor educational attainment, homelessness, health inequality and community cohesion are all serious issues. The Bradford district is also one of the UK’s most diverse – in terms of ethnicity, religion and culture. Over 40% of the Bradford population is BAME and in the City ward this rises to 71%, with a Muslim population of 60%. We have the third highest level of residential segregation between white British and BAME residents in the country and a population that is constantly shifting with the arrival of migrants and refugees from some of the most troubled regions on earth. We serve a district where over 100 languages are spoken, and where over 40% of primary school children speak English as a second language. This situation is both a challenge and an opportunity, and we see our work with children and young people as vitally important. We provide opportunities for them to explore values, heritage, history and the experiences of Bradford’s diverse people, promoting cohesion, active citizenship and respect for all.
2023 was our busiest year yet for educational visits, with over 3,000 children and young people visiting the Cathedral for educational purposes, accompanied by around 500 adults. There were 93 morning or afternoon sessions during that time, with 54 different educational organisations taking part. 18 schools or organisations visited more than once. We hosted educational visits from nursery and primary school children, secondary school, special school and sixth form students, as well as university students, trainee teachers and trainee police officers. They came from all over Bradford, as well as from Harrogate, Dewsbury, Holmfirth, Leeds, Ilkley, Keighley, Bingley, Shipley, Burley-in-Wharfedale and the Dales. Pleasingly, the numbers of older children and young people visiting the Cathedral for educational purposes increased again in 2023, as did our work with adults in continuing education- particularly young adults with additional needs, ESOL and refugee groups who are learning English.
This recent feedback from across the age spectrum gives a typical snapshot:
“Thank you once again… for a thoroughly enjoyable, informative visit. The children and adults have had such a wonderful time.” (Primary teacher)
“The children and all staff absolutely enjoyed your workshops… Thank you once again for your fantastic service that you offer to our children.” (RE Lead teacher)
“We had a great time and the tour was perfect, covering so many GCSE topics.” (Secondary teacher)
“The students absolutely loved it and we had a fantastic class discussion following on from the visit.” (Year 12 teacher)
Other key educational features developed since 2019
Digital educational resources’ bank
We credit part of our success in terms of growth of educational and family visits, to the creative work we did during the pandemic in order to maintain contact with schools and families. As well as providing online services and events during this time, we also created a large bank of digital educational resources, which continues to be well-used and valued by schools.
Community Heritage Volunteer (CHV) Project with Lapage Primary School
Originally an offshoot of a Heritage Lottery Funded World War I Project in 2017-8, this has been developed by us to become the Community Heritage Volunteer (CHV) Project with a local school, Lapage Primary, and a continuing aspect of education provision at the Cathedral, with a wider focus rather a WW1 focus: the Cathedral as a sacred space and heritage site. Each academic year, a Year 5 cohort from Lapage Primary research aspects of the Cathedral and then act as Cathedral guides for children from other schools. This peer project has become an important aspect of the annual Education programme, fostering active citizenship, community engagement and interfaith understanding. The project has attracted interest from the Department for Education and the Department for Communities and Local Government, who visited the Cathedral to discuss this work, recognising the CHV Project as an example of innovation in education for integration and cohesion.
Living Timeline costumed experience
We created a costumed experience to use with our young visitors, which has proved to be very popular. At the heart of this “Living Timeline” experience is an interactive guided tour of the Cathedral, which makes use of period costumes and replica artefacts to tell the story of the Cathedral, and Bradford itself, in a colourful, interactive and inclusive way. The Living Timeline tour helps children to make sense of the past, but also understand how it has shaped 21st century Bradford. They encounter different historical periods in different locations inside the Cathedral, exploring the significance of these periods. The tour ends with a Living Timeline down the nave of the Cathedral, where the children arrange themselves into the correct era according to their costumes or the artefacts they are holding. Pupils “see” the history of the Cathedral and of Bradford since Saxon times and the whole class is involved in forming the Timeline. The historical periods are: Saxon, Norman, Tudor, Civil War, Victorian, WW1, 1960/70s immigration and we end with the Bradford of today.
School holiday family activity sessions
We began providing family activity sessions during school holidays in 2019 and these have proved extremely popular. On average now we provide around 12 sessions per year. As well as seasonal craft and colouring activities, quizzes and trails for children of all ages and their carers, we also provide family-friendly guided tours at each event. Parents/carers really appreciate the opportunity to tour the Cathedral and find out more about it, whilst not having to worry about the children in their care- because noise and movement from the children is absolutely fine as we tour the building. We have also extended our provision for families by providing a well-stocked literacy area for them to use during the family activities’ sessions, as we felt that there was a need in this area to support literacy initiatives in any way we can.
Family activities’ sessions during school holidays continue to be well-attended. In 2023 we held 12 sessions of family activities, with around 280 children and 190 adults. The majority of families who come to our family activities do so because our activities and refreshments are free and they could not afford to take their children out otherwise. We would love to continue to provide this resource for our local community. There is a real socio-economic and ethnic mix of families at the holiday sessions, tying in with our priority of making this building and site accessible and “known” to all people in the local area.
Tours and workshops for adults in continuing education
We have widened our offer to provide tours and workshops for adults in continuing education, such as university students, young adults with additional needs, trainee teachers and police officers, adults with basic English and those studying for the British Citizenship test- many of them refugees or economic migrants. We have built up a strong relationship with a number of these local groups who now make repeat visits. We have adapted our delivery and materials to accommodate all those who come through our doors, aiming to be as inclusive, accessible and welcoming as possible. Our feedback encourages us to think that we are.
Feedback from Bradford College ESOL tutor:
“We love coming here. You make the visits so accessible to the adult learners, in the vocabulary you use, the prompts that you have and your whole body language and sense of welcome. I tell all the other groups to come here instead of other local places of interest, as the information is so accessible and interesting and students can learn so much about Bradford. Thank you again. We will be back.”
Key developments for adult visitors since 2019
Over these years the number of adult visitor groups requesting guided tours and the number of drop-in visitors have risen considerably, due to our increased marketing and wider offer. Rather than just providing ad hoc tours when requested by groups, as in the past, we began by advertising general historical tours for groups and have gone on to provide bespoke architectural, historical, religious and stained glass tours, and most recently, ecclesiastical textiles’ tours. These specialist and general tours have been extremely popular and there is lots of potential to do far more of these- only lack of staff capacity to provide these is holding us back from doing more.
Digital content for visitors
In the early weeks and months of the pandemic, primarily to maintain contact with congregation members and potential future visitors, in collaboration with the Comms. Team we produced a series of “Cathedral Close-Ups”, highlighting interesting features of the building, its memorials and history that the public might not always be aware of or perhaps might have been intrigued by. We also created a 360° virtual tour of the Cathedral, and a “Discovering Bradford Cathedral blog”. We have gone on to produce many further series of short videos, including “Cathedral 101” short videos- explaining Christian festivals in basic form to those of little or no faith, interesting content for national Tourism Week each year and for key events and anniversaries in our history, covering many features of the cathedral and aspects of Cathedral life.
Faith Trail
The coordination of the Bradford Faith Trail, on behalf of all 5 places of worship involved, falls under the remit of this department. The monthly Faith Trails (March-October) have grown in popularity over the last few years, as we have focused on widening advertising for this event and promoting its importance to members of the general public and local organisations. Over 300 people took part in a Faith Trail in 2023, exploring St. Peter’s RC Church, Abu Bakar Masjid, Shree Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple, Guru Gobind Singh Ji Gurdwara and Bradford Cathedral. Organisations that took part included church groups, the NHS and other groups from the public sector, U3A groups, Scouts and Explorer Scouts, walking groups, women’s groups, secondary school students and representatives from Bradford 2025. Once again, trainee police officers and PCSOs also participated, as a requirement of their training. However, the vast majority of the participants were members of the general public, most of whom had never been in a masjid, gurdwara or mandir before. As always, this year’s feedback acknowledges this unique experience. With the greater focus on advertising has come more recognition of this unique event, and we have recently been filmed for the BBC’s Sunday morning religious affairs programme, “Sunday Live”.
Heritage Open Day
Since 2018, Bradford Cathedral has been fully involved in the annual national Heritage Open Day event. On this day each year there is an opportunity to focus on a different and often little-known aspect of the Cathedral’s history and links. Last year we showcased our magnificent Morris & Co. stained glass and textiles and it proved to be our most successful Heritage Open Day yet- a popular theme that brought in many visitors, from near and far, who had never visited us before.
We were recently awarded the privilege of being featured on the national Heritage Open Day website gallery. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Heritage Open Days, a new online gallery has been created as an important record of their history. Bradford Cathedral made the shortlist for inclusion and, after a public vote to choose the favourites, our story has been added to the Heritage Open Day Anniversary Gallery and we received £200 to help fund this year’s Heritage Open Day!
The annual Heritage Open Day has become a really important day for us to welcome new visitors to Bradford Cathedral, to celebrate this amazing building and site, its history, features and connections, and to share all of these things with as many visitors as possible. We hope that the publicity from this achievement will bring more and more first-time visitors through our doors and that they will come to love Bradford Cathedral as much as we do.
Cathedrals at Night experiences
We have put on a number of home-grown events in the Cathedral at night, so that visitors have a completely different experience of the building. One of these events, which has proved popular with visitors, is a specially-created historical pilgrimage around the building at night. During the journey, the story of the coming of Christianity to Bradford, its growth and the development of the church and the later cathedral are portrayed in words and music at different locations around the building, using a multi-sensory approach and focusing on different historical time periods. There are prayers, poetry, stories, hymns and music from former times and at each location an opportunity for reflection, contemplation and prayer in this beautiful and spiritual environment.
Coordination of heritage research and provision
As we are a small cathedral without a designated archivist or fully maintained archive, heritage research for a wide range of parties (internal and external) is another important aspect of this department’s work. We research and provide information for key Bradford Cathedral anniversaries of significant events, for funding bids, renovation work or possible removal of items, for members of the public- often from the USA, Australia and Canada- researching their ancestors, for people undertaking academic research or writing publications, and for specific recent projects such as the Contested Heritage Monuments’ Review, Cathedrals’ Inventory Projects and our Conservation Management and Visitor Engagement Plans.
We also research, create and manage a range of interesting written information and interpretation for visitors, both in the Cathedral, through videos and on the website, in order to make this site, its features, history and significance accessible to all who wish to visit.
Cathedral Awards
Recent awards, to which our work with children, young people, families and adult visitors have made a significant contribution:
Small Visitor Attraction of the Year- Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards 2020
Finalist- Best Use of Digital UK- Museum & Heritage Awards 2022
Finalist- Outstanding Contribution to Tourism, Yorkshire Tourism Awards 2022
Finalist- Culture Award. Yorkshire Tourism Awards 2023
Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards Winner 2024
Future Projects
Heritage Open Day, Saturday September 14th
This year’s national theme is “Routes-Networks-Connections” and in our most ambitious Heritage Open Day yet we will be exploring our links to the Bradford beck, the canal, the turnpikes and railways through our monuments, memorials and history. There will also be a talk by Michael Scott, who is building a scale model of Bradford Cathedral, and a collection of Jowett classic cars in Cathedral Close! Our intention is that this year’s event will bring another big group of first-time visitors, very different from those who came for the William Morris-themed day last year.
October-December is always a busy time for educational visits, particularly those connected with Advent and Christmas. Last year, we had over 1,000 children and young people visiting during this time and we hope that this year will see similar numbers.
National Literacy Trust partnership
In the spring and summer terms of 2025 we will be working in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, hosting visits from Bradford primary schools involved in the Goldsmiths 500 Writers’ Challenge- a project to enhance writing development over 3 years for pupils in the selected Bradford primary schools.
This programme for Bradford primary schools is designed to enhance the long-term development of writing and reading by harnessing the power of memorable experiences and teaching and learning approaches to support the development of confident, motivated writers/readers. We are excited to be a part of this.
Plans for Bradford 2025 City of Culture year include…
- One-off textiles’ day event, showcasing our beautiful ecclesiastical textiles and their stories- aimed at Mothers’ Union and stitching groups in particular
- A schedule of general historical, Morris/stained glass and ecclesiastical textiles’ tours throughout the year
- One-off event for children and families showcasing the history of Bradford and the Cathedral- using our costumed experience
- Extra-special Year 6 Leavers’ Service, tying in with Bradford 2025 City of Culture and the forthcoming 1,400 anniversary of the coming of Christianity to this area. We hope to attract even more schools than usual if possible, with a focus on Bradford, wool, sheep and the coming of Christianity to this hillside
Wishlist for 2025, if funding attained:
- New visitor leaflets in languages we don’t currently have that are in the “Top 5” languages in Bradford: Urdu, Arabic, Punjabi and Slovak. (We already have Polish)
- New interpretation for the building- for example, a brief history of this holy site and its origins; summary of who we are and why we follow Jesus etc
- Consistent signage, including that indicating chapel names
Current financial situation
So far this year, we have already welcomed over 2,000 school children and college students and so are anticipating a further increase from last year. These visits bring children from all faith traditions and none into our historic, sacred site and we pride ourselves in providing the highest standard of religious literacy, fostering intercultural and interfaith awareness and skill in the future citizens of our diverse city and district. Our number of adult visitors also continues to grow and we have plans and ideas for more tours and events through which to entice and engage with even more visitors in the future.
However, along with many other organisations, we have faced increasing financial challenges and recently some difficult decisions were made around funding and staffing, resulting in the reduction of the hours of the second member of the team, the Education and Visitor Assistant, from 16.5 hours per week to 11 hours and a term-time contract only. Future success at the level we have achieved and further expansion of delivery can only be achieved with funding for the second member of the Cathedral Education and Visitor team- rather than relying on untrained volunteers- whose teaching background, subject knowledge and flexibility across different age groups from nursery to adult, will allow us to do more and attract more educational establishments, children, young people and adults in continuing education than we will be able to do with only 1 subject specialist staff member in the Education team.
To ensure that our department plays its part in making the Cathedral sustainable into the future we have also had to rethink how we fund the important work we do. That is why, from September, very much against our instincts, we will need to charge for school visits. Our work has always been based solely on voluntary contributions- in practice we have operated a “pay if you can” scheme. This has meant that no child has ever knowingly been excluded from an opportunity to visit the Cathedral, due to poverty or financial limitations. We are more than aware of the financial pressures schools themselves are under and many of the families that benefit from our ‘awe and wonder’ experience come from the most deprived areas of our district. We have managed to secure, for now, enough money to trial a hardship fund to ensure we never knowingly restrict access to the Cathedral for those who are in most need, but this is a very precarious position to be in when there is so much important work to do with our children and young people.
Our education and visitor programme is underpinned by a belief that the Cathedral is ideally placed, at the heart of our diverse city, to explore the relationship between Christianity and other faiths. We also believe that by giving people the opportunity to discover how our city has become home to many different faiths and cultural traditions in the 21st century, and to understand these better, we can make a significant contribution to greater social cohesion in the future. The significance of this sacred site deserves to be more widely known and experienced by as many people as possible. With further funding to secure staff capacity, we can continue to provide this vital provision to all, regardless of background, and to all faiths and none.