Family Events

The sun shone brightly as families from Manchester Reform Synagogue celebrated the last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah in the High Peak District of Derbyshire. At the seventh consecutive annual family weekend at Hartington, life could not have been better.

On Friday evening, after a joint Kiddush lead by the Nelson Family and a three course meal to herald in Shabbat, the whole entourage of about 30 adults and children trekked across the fields around the Hall by torchlight and under starry skies. The children were then entertained by our new Youth Worker Frankie Stubbs while parents unwound in the old Manor House.

Our family Shabbat morning service, led by Rabbi Silverman, took on a new feel, as for the first time it was celebrated on the front lawn of the Hall under bright sunlight, undoubtedly a rare event in this sceptred Isle of ours.

In the afternoon we all ambled through the Dales, to stop for afternoon tea and homemade chocolate brownies by the babbling Dove brook. Saturday night entertainment organised by the Bernhardt family was Karaoke, Jackson’s Row style with a particularly poignant rendition of “We will survive” by Danny, Sam and Joe Franks in memory of Jackie who is sorely missed by all in our community.

Sunday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, the children took part in more team building activities led by Frankie before we all had to head back to the reality of school and work, our lives enriched by the community spirit the weekend had engendered.

Peter Arkwright