Caribbean Evening
The recent Caribbean evening raised an incredible £4,250 for brain tumour research. We would like to express our thanks to everyone involved on making such a great success of this amazing fundraising event. Here are a few photos from the evening.
Celebrating our Volunteers
Our Parish relies on volunteers. Fr Bill recognised this by writing to each volunteer thanking them for their valuable contribution to St Joseph’s Parish Life. He went on to say “your time and support which you give freely are a perfect example of parish life in action. At St Joseph’s, we want to continue to create a vibrant community with faith at our heart and a community that represents and celebrates the cultural diversity so evident at our Masses”. To deliver this goal we continue to encourage Parishioners to become more involved in the life of their church. As you know, giving a little time can help in so many ways.
Fr Bill’s letter included an invitation to a Celebration of Volunteers event held on the afternoon of Saturday 15 March in the church hall. It was an opportunity to meet with other volunteers in the Parish and share some drinks and treats. More than 80 volunteers turned up and consumed a large quantity of food beautifully prepared by…. volunteers. Wine and soft drinks were soon flowing and the room was buzzing with conversation. The Christmas mulled wine made yet another appearance, although there were few takers. I am pleased to report we are down to our last few bottles.
Once everyone had arrived and made themselves at home Harvey said a few words on behalf of the Coordination Team, who had organised the event. He introduced Fr Simon who gave a moving speech describing how his return to Epsom felt like “coming home”. He talked about the talents we all have and the importance of sharing them for the good of the Parish. The way we find God in our lives and in our work and the importance of recognising it and making time for God and for each other. We ended this uplifting talk with a prayer.
Fr Bill had wanted to attend but with the sad news of his brother Tom passing, he had travelled to Ireland for the funeral. We all passed on our thoughts and prayers for Fr Bill and his family.
After a couple of hours, people went their different ways. Everyone seemed to have a smile on their face as they departed. Feedback suggests everyone enjoyed themselves and the plan is to repeat the event later this year.
If you have read this and want to volunteer, please do! Contact the parish office and help in any way you can!
Fr Simon and Coordination Team
Celebration with New Parishioners
On Sunday 2 February, we held a celebration with our new parishioners after the 10.30 Mass. New parishioners were welcomed in the hall, together with more familiar faces: about 100 people in total! Cheese and wine was on offer, together with non-alcoholic options. We even brought out our seemingly endless stock of Christmas mulled wine, which went down a treat (speaking personally).
The event was organised by our Coordination Team. As a reminder, the team was created by Fr Bill to help deliver our Statement of Aspirations. Fr Bill welcomed new parishioners and shared his recollections of a rather ‘over the top’ approach to introductions in the USA. Ours, he said, would be heartfelt but lower key! He introduced Harvey Bradshaw, who currently chairs the team. Harvey welcomed everyone and described the desire of the team to create a vibrant culture of faith, celebrating and fully involving all the cultures we have in our parish.
The team introduced themselves. As a reminder, they are:
- Mary Gorton leading faith development;
- Neil Whitmore leading sacramental development;
- Mary Burke leading welcomers and liturgy;
- John Mortimer leading social activities;
- Theresa Park leading outreach;
- Thomas Andrews leading youth.;
The key message to everyone was ‘get involved in your parish’. We can only thrive if people help. Please contact the parish office and help in any way you can!
