Farewell to 'saints' of Cottingley

Cottingley couple Bill and Patricia Holliday are leaving the village after nearly 20 years. Local people will recognise the Hollidays as being the ultimate friends and neighbours. They have been part of the church family at St Michael’s for many years and we will miss their ministry of preaching, teaching and prayer, not forgetting their specialist skills in floral art and photography!

The Hollidays have truly inspired us to become more involved in our community, to reach out to those who are not as privileged as ourselves, and share our talents with those around us in order to make a positive change in our village and our world. They are both shining examples of Cottingley ‘saints’ and will be dearly missed by all.

We said farewell to the Hollidays with a bring and share lunch last Sunday to celebrate the time they have spent with us and to thank them for all they have done.

Here Bill shares his thoughts as they pack their boxes …

Goodbye and Thank You

Patricia and I are about to move house to Liverpool. This is after living here in Cottingley for almost twenty years. It is a sad time for us but the years have rolled by and we are no longer as self-reliant as we used to be. We look back over many happy times and we are saying goodbye to many good friends with whom it has been a privilege to share those occasions.

We have seen Cottingley change and develop - Cornerstone is the most noticeable example. What a wonderful facility for providing a meeting place for the various groups and interests of our community! Every day, all kinds of people pass in and out through the doors of Cornerstone. Faces become familiar and friendships are formed. The bonds of our community are strengthened.

Another welcome change has been in the ethnic mix of our neighbourhood. Cottingley of 1998, when we arrived, is quite different from Cottingley of 2017. Members of Bradford’s Islamic community have moved in and are making their contribution to the life of our village. Cottingley, now, has an international and multi-cultural face. Almost half of our neighbours at our end of Woodside Crescent are Muslims and it is great to have them around - we will miss them in our new neighbourhood in Liverpool!

The Christian community here has steadily changed over the last nineteen years. Each of our congregations have begun to see ourselves more and more as contributors to the life of Cottingley, servants of all God’s people here. Our vision of making Cottingley a better place in which to live for everyone has become more real.

Patricia and I are leaving Cottingley at a point in time when a new Cottingley is being born. We would love to stay but … alas. Goodbye and thank you.

Bill Holliday