South Yorkshire Workplace Chaplaincy

Where we're from

Industrial Mission (as it was then) in this area was born as an Anglican enterprise in April 1944. The then Bishop of Sheffield, Leslie Hunter, appointed Ted Wickham as Industrial Chaplain in the Diocese. "This was an innovative and at the time unique appointment". It was created to further the Bishop's "vision of a revitalised Church and a Church re-established among the industrial working class."

In the early days the Sheffield Industrial Mission established chaplaincies throughout the area's industrial sites, particularly in steelworks. The work flourished, and more staff were taken on. By the early 1950's, "works visiting remained the foundation of the Mission". The Mission also began to be used as a setting for clergy training at about this time. Groups of workers would meet under the Mission's auspices. It is estimated that at one time over 1000 workers took part in such groups, discussing issues of faith and of justice.

The ecumenical dimension began when Barry Parker, a free church chaplain, was appointed in 1961. However, increasing ideological tensions in the Mission in the mid 1960's led to his sacking, along with the Methodist, David Wright, and another chaplain, Ian MacKay, as the Church of England sought to increase its control over the Mission.

As the 1960's moved into the 1970's, the Mission began to recover from the trauma it had experienced. More ecumenical appointments were made and the Mission responded to changes in the world of work by moving into new areas, such as retail chaplaincy.

The 1980's were a time of great upheaval and division in the industrial life of Britain and the Mission played its part: as well trying to keep open steelworks that were being closed, the Mission could also step back and be a body trusted by those on both sides of the divide. At the same time, the Mission moved towards having a fully ecumenical structure. Unemployment, and the regeneration of areas whose heart had been ripped out by the loss of work, became major themes of the Mission's work. The Mission began to take an interest in the working lives of women and other groups subject to discrimination. And the Mission's work continued to change to reflect the changing industrial life of the area as service industries played an ever larger part.

In the 1990's the Mission became "Industrial Mission in South Yorkshire", to make explicit what had been true for a long time about the geographical scope of the work. IMSY's work had three main strands: industries employing mostly traditional full time workers; industries employing mostly part time, temporary, agency or home workers; and economic regeneration. It also worked (and South Yorkshire Workplace Chaplaincy continues to work) with the Church on employment and economy-related issues, with others who seek economic justice and continues to try to understand what God's Good News is in these areas.

In the opening years of the third millennium, the mission had to contend with the churches' financial problems and the consequent loss of some paid staff. Nevertheless it continued to flourish, extending its work into new kinds of workplaces. In recognition that much employment (in public service or retail for example) is not popularly understood as 'industry', the Mission became South Yorkshire Workplace Chaplaincy.

The quotations here are taken from Paul Bagshaw's history of the Industrial Mission, "The Church beyond the Church", published by IMSY in 1994, ISBN 0-9522860-0-9: copies are obtainable from the SYWC office.