NOW becoming a regular feature of the Priory’s Advent and Christmas, the Live Nativity which narrates the Christmas story within the the Priory’s precincts and building, lived up to expectations again this year with a superb performance by the children.

The young actors this year were pupils of the nearby Boyle and Petyt School, and they were joined by local cattle, sheep, goats and, of course, a donkey.

All involved said it was a wonderful spectacle for everyone who attended and the children delighted in the animals.

The Priory is an Anglican Church within the Diocese of Leeds where Christians have worshipped since 1154. Worship is centred round the Book of Common Prayer 1662.

The Boyle & Petyt school is situated on the outskirts of Beamsley near to Bolton Abbey.

Its catchment area includes the villages of Beamsley, Bolton Abbey, Draughton, Halton East and the hamlets of Hazlewood, Storiths and Deerstones.

Children also attend from Addingham, Ilkley, Skipton and Silsden.

The school owes its foundation to the charity of men of bygone times who, having made great wealth, wanted to benefit those less fortunate than themselves.

Sylvester Petyt was born in Storiths in 1638. He was educated at Ermysted’s Grammar School, Skipton, and left Yorkshire for London to study law, starting his studies at Barnard’s Inn. He died, in 1719, and in part of his will left £300 to provide a school in or near Storiths.

Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691) was born in Lismore Castle, Ireland. A founder member of the Royal Society and enunciator of ‘Boyle’s Law’ in physics, he left a sum of money to his nephew, the second Earl of Burlington, for the benefit of the tenants of the Bolton Abbey estate. His nephew used this money to build what is now the rectory at Bolton Abbey, but was formerly a Grammar School.

In response to the 1870 Education Act it was suggested that the Boyle and Petyt charities should be united. The then Duke of Devonshire gave the charities the present site in Beamsley and lent the money for the new building which was completed in 1875.