Mother Andi Hofbauer, vicar of St Aidan's Church in Leeds and Sarah Rutty Headteacher of Bankside Primary School, in the parish of St Aidan's, are setting off on a mini-pilgrimage, walking in the footsteps of the original St Aidan, to raise money for essential parish work to maintain the fabric and ministry of the church.

On August 21st they are walking 20 miles from the burial place of St Aidan, in Bamburgh, to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, from where he set off, 1300 yrs ago, on his mission to feed the homeless, look after the poor and spread the message of Christian love and compassion.

St Aidan's Church is proud of continuing this important social ministry. The money that Andi and Sarah will raise will help provide food parcels and cooked meals for our Foodshare work on Sundays. It will help fund the work of our weekly PAFRAS drop-in sessions for people seeking asylum and refuge in inner city Leeds. It will pay for some of the resources needed for our ESOL classes, teaching English to newly arrived Leeds citizens and refugees.

We need to protect this work as we face a very unexpected bill of £20,000 to rebuild the east end apse wall. This wall which keeps a roof over our head (literally!) also supports one of the most lovely and precious mosaics designed by Frank Brangwyn for the church in 1916. A bit of background is provided by this link for you to find out more about this extraordinary depiction of the life of St Aidan by this very famous artist. We need to sort out this vital building work, to preserve this amazing piece of artistic heritage and keep the church building safe, whilst keeping the daily work of the parish in business.

Andi and Sarah are walking in the footsteps of St Aidan, as their contribution to maintain his vision of serving those most in need of Christian love and compassion. Please give generously to help us do this - and to keep the wonderful representation of his work safely in place on the east end wall. Thank you!