We Would Like Your Help 

This is a request to anyone who, for whatever reason, can help us continue to maintain the North churchyard. That might be in memory of a loved one, to enhance the location within this community, or simply to join us cutting the grass and the surrounding trees and bushes, thereby maintaining and enhancing the graves and their headstones. 
 
Gardening Parties take place on the first Saturday of each month throughout the Summer. Please meet at the church at 10am. 
The first meeting will be on Saturday 3rd May 2025 at 10am, followed by meetings on 
Saturday 7th June 
Saturday 5th July 
Saturday 2nd August 
Saturday 6th September 
Saturday 4th October 
 

  Events  

Save the dates in 2025 
 
In 2025, the Friends of Roundhay St John's have been allocated a prestigious spot at the Oakwood Farmers' Market on 
Saturday 19 April and we are planning an open day for Saturday 17 May
As a participant in the Leeds Heritage Trail, we will again hold an open day at the church on Saturday 13 September from 10am to 3pm. 
We look forward to seeing you at these events. 
 
 
Throughout the year, when the weather is appropriate, gardening work parties strive to maintain and improve the North churchyard by grass, shrub and tree cutting, planting spring bulbs, replacing fencing, and the maintenance and erection of fallen graves where necessary.  
We are always delighted to hear from anyone who would like to join our friendly group of volunteers. We can tailor jobs that need to be done - from those looking to just prune etc and carry out light gardening to those who want to work off stress by getting stuck into mowing or strimming the grass and undergrowth etc. All will be warmly welcomed of whatever age or ability. 
Please be aware that it is no longer possible to enter the church building. 
 
 
In 2024, one of our wonderful volunteers Wendy worked tirelessly and with great enthusiasm during the summer to reveal a significant number of the graves in all their Victorian glory. https://player.vimeo.com/video/1007270731 taken in September, shows the magical southern graveyard at St John's, which had become somewhat overgrown over recent years.  
We think you’ll agree her hard work has certainly paid off. 
 
We again participated in the Leeds Heritage Trail on Saturday 7th September, including tours of the churchyard and presentations about  
some of the characters buried here. In total, we welcomed around 140 visitors and managed to dodge most of the rain this time. 
 
On 6th July, in very mixed weather including an almighty downpour of rain, a group of volunteers took part in our summer Open Day. After "no mow May" it was a mammoth task to mow the grass. I'm sure you'll agree the effort was well worthwhile. As well as mowing the vast area of overgrown grass, volunteers also cleaned numerous graves along the park boundary wall and the Cercis tree donated in memory of the Hargraves was planted. So much was accomplished and our grateful thanks go to all involved. 
The heavens opened just as The Lidgett Players were due to perform. After almost an hour's pause, they talked about the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission plus, at each of their graves, George de Relyskow, James Kitson, Harold Nicholson, Thomas and Sarah Whitley and Winifred and Ewald Feldhaus, for whom their youngest daughter Deborah was our guest of honour.  
 
In 2023, everyone worked extremely hard on 8th June to prepare for summer.  
On the 1st July, visitors who attended our first Open Day were particularly industrious, especially in clearing some of the older, very-overgrown graves.  
As part of the Leeds Civic Trust 2023 Heritage Trail, The Friends of Roundhay St John's church held an event in the North churchyard on the 16th September. 
30+ visitors were shown around the churchyard and its vicinity, discussed some of the interesting graves and talked about the general history of St John's. We are extremely grateful to those visitors who worked hard in the churchyard alongside our regular Friends.  
 
At our last gardening work party for the year, we held a bulb planting session on 4th November and in early December two new trees were planted.  
We were very pleased to meet with new enquirers at the Oakwood Farmers' Market on 16th December and plan to attend future such events in 2024. 
 

Contact the Friends of Roundhay St John's 

Fill in the form below and a member of our team will contact you shortly from roundhayfriends@gmail.com 

Donations  Being run by a group of volunteers, we are always happy to receive donations towards our costs. For example, re-erecting a headstone can cost £150+, while replacing a heavy duty lawnmower costs £800.  If you feel you could contribute, please contact our Treasurer at roger@potts-uk.com for bank details.