Knights of Saint Columba Council 192: Southend-on-Sea

Charity Jazz Concert in aid of Saint Peters parish, Eastwood

Saturday 10th October 2015

When Council 192 voted to hold a fundraiser to help the parish of Saint Peters in Eastwood, our first concern was that the Mazenod Hall in the grounds of the parish is the largest hall of the Catholic parishes within the Southend Deanery. 

• Would we be able to fill the hall? 
• Would we have to strategically place the tables and chairs to make it look fuller than it would be?

We need not have worried.

We had our own secret weapon; the wonderful Sandy Rand, wife or our current Chairman Liam who spent several weeks canvassing on the phone to ensure that the hall was full to capacity with people (not just local Catholics) from all over the local area.

On the ground, many of our group were available after Mass at Saint Peters in the two weekends beforehand and the evening was publicised within the newsletters of the five Catholic parishes around the Borough of Southend. In the final few days leading up to Saturday 10th October, the numbers attending just grew and grew to the point where we ran out of the main tables for the hall. We ran out of table number displays that we had produced as we never expected to run an event with more than ten tables.

We had 128 guests which amounts to the biggest function we have put on for a number of years. It certainly was an interesting trip to the supermarket to get the complimentary wine that was in the price of the ticket as we must have looked like a couple of desperate chaps with a trolley weighed down with alcohol.

As well as guaranteed excellent music which we will get on to in a minute, we also provided free tea and coffee, nibbles on the tables and a stylish compilation of contemporary jazz on mp3 to get the feet tapping in anticipation of the show to come. The whole evening had a professional 'gig' feel to it from the ambience to the promotion throughout. We pulled out the stops to make it a good fundraiser for the parish even to offering free lifts to help people get to the evening and safely home again.

The band were called ‘The Southend Jazz Co-Operative’ and they were absolutely superb as well as appearing without charging us for their performance. A part time but very professional band numbering around the 20 member or more mark. Here is their website (www.southendjazzco-op.co.uk) and if you ever see them advertised as performing near you I would highly recommend going to see them. You will not be disappointed. 

Part of the pull of the evening was fish and chips offered within the ticket price of £10 a head so with a keen entry charge we had to ensure that we had a good attendance to show a respective amount raised which was also supplemented by the raffle.

A big thank you has to be said to Oban Road Fish and Chip Shop in Southchurch. This small outlet hidden in the middle of a suburban Southend side road worked tirelessly to freshly cook and wrap fish and chips for all present. We needed two cars to collect and bring all the hot food back to the hall and the fish shop staff looked shattered when the last portion was boxed ready to take. Everyone commented how nice the food was, and it truly was, but with serving teas and coffees plus all the washing up meant that those of us involved in the running of the evening certainly enjoyed the music but did not get a chance to sit and watch though the evening flowed perfectly. I only wish I could have taken more pictures.

When it was all done and dusted, we were able to present Parish Priest Father Jeff Woolnough with a cheque for £829.62 for the parish.

Why did we do it? Firstly, we knew that the parish needed some support financially and although the Knights are not a fundraising organisation ‘per se’, we are able to get events like this rolling. It was hard work but we enjoyed it and we are there to support the clergy and the parishes around us. Needless to say, the day after we were shell shocked.

(D Dillon 10th October 2015)

Introducing Some of Our Past Members: John Young RIP

In a series of short posts, we aim to introduce to you some of our former members who are no longer with us, and by sharing some of our past, it can be recorded for the future; our future:

Obituary for Brother John Young, Past Grand Knight of Council 192 (Southend-on-Sea) who died 15th October 2010 aged 78

The Eulogy read at John's Funeral Mass on Monday 25th October 2010 at Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph Church, Leigh-on-Sea, told us a great deal about John's life before he moved to this area in 1973 together with wife Anne and children Elizabeth, Katherine, Bernadette and Martin. John was the eldest of seven children. He and eldest sister, Irene (RIP), and their mother lived with family in Preston, their home town. Then began John's long lasting support of Preston North End Football Club. The family remained there during the war years then returned to Hornchurch in Essex where the rest of the family were born. John joined the Knights of Saint Columba at Romford in 1957 after serving in the Squires (the then junior branch of the KSC) and rose to the Office of "Master of the Squires". On the very same day of joining at Romford was Brother Brian Dillon with the registration number of 57/687 and John stood next in line with the registration number of 57/688. John's National Service was served in the Army, including time in Egypt and Cyprus. Following his return to Hornchurch, he met Anne Dunne at a Parish Social and they were married in 1963. John had commenced his studies as a draughtsman and continually sought to improve and eventually qualified as a Structured Engineer. He and Anne settled in Romford where their children were born. They moved to Leigh-on-Sea in 1973 where John became a member of the local Knights (Southend-on-Sea 192). The family enjoyed many camping holidays both in the U.K. and on the continent, giving John the opportunity to improve his French and developing his interest in other languages. He later took German lessons at night school in the 70's and obtaining an A level in German in his sixties. Family history became a special interest including researching the life of his grandfather who was awarded the V.C. (Victoria Cross) in the First World War.

During April 1994, Southend member Brother Gordon Barrett - then Provincial Grand Knight (Chairman), was a guest at a reception given by the Mayor of Preston for another member of Southend 192 who was on a sponsored walk from Lands End to John O Groats. During the visit to Preston, the Mayor had organised a visit to the local museum. Whilst enjoying the tour of the museum, Gordon noticed an exhibit outlining an award of the Victoria Cross to a soldier of the First World War by the name of ‘Young’ who saved the life of a wounded British Officer. On relating this to the then Grand Knight of 192, Brother John Young, he replied, “yes I know, he was my grandfather”. How co-incidental.

John was an active member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish including driving the Parish Minibus taking the elderly to Mass.

He served in the Knights as Grand Knight on three occasions and was awarded the Order's Meritorious Service Medal and Golden Jubilee Award on completing fifty years unbroken membership. There can be no better tribute to John's life than this quotation from the Eulogy:-

"When we think of John we cannot help but appreciate his many qualities, his steadfast faith, gentleness and humility, and his many sacrifices for his family. John was a family man and loved his wife, children and grandchildren.... he was a true gentleman in his dealing with people in every aspect of his life. We will all miss him."

With acknowledgements and thanks to John's daughter, Mrs Kathleen Crowe, the author of the Eulogy for the above quotation and the earlier family history.

The theme of the Admission Service for new members of the Knights of Saint Columba is service to The Cross and Holy Mother Church, and Brother John often reminded us of the logo displayed on that occasion "Tempus Fugit, Memento Mori", appropriate to this obituary.

Who are the Knights of Southend-on-Sea 192? 

Not just the official line as that can be found on our
home page of our website (www.ksc192.org) but just
who are we in Southend-on-Sea?

People could say we are like worker ants busying ourselves around the parishes we work in. This is certainly true because we were the forerunners to Parish Councils back in the day, working with and for our parish priests who were also members, carrying out duties to assist the clergy in the running of the parishes. It is no coincidence that some of our main key members in years past were key to supporting my journey through life while growing up in a Catholic family with Catholic values, in a Catholic community not just in the parish I grew up and served in but around the parishes of the Borough of Southend. People that my family met with regularly and socialised with and it all centred around parish life. Charles and Doris Ogden who sadly both are no longer with us were always there in my parish of Saint John Fisher in Prittlewell while growing up. Charles was a member of the Knights for over fifty years until he passed away. I recently found my Children's Bible I was given at my First Holy Communion and in there is a card from Charles and Doris. In our parish he was involved in everything. The man in the background supporting the parish. I will never forget the words that Father (now Canon) Peter Connor said at Charles' funeral "that if there are any squeaky gates or doors in heaven then we can be certain that Charles would be reliably there to oil and fix them".

My Dad used to take me occasionally to Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Helen in Westcliff-on-Sea. One of the key figures in that parish was a gentleman named Frank Persighetti who passed away on Monday March 17th 2014. Just like Charles Ogden, Frank was a key worker in his parish also involved in everything and well respected within the parish. He was also a member of the Knights for over fifty years when he passed away; sixty-four years a member to be precise.

One of my favourite churches to visit was Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph in Leigh-on-Sea. Here I used to met my extended family and cousins. My Uncle Gerard was until very recently Master of Ceremonies in this parish. My Granddad lived here too. Did I mention they were members of the Knights? Well, just like my Dad they were. My Dad has been an active member for well over fifty years.

The Knights of Saint Columba have been around in Southend-on-Sea since 1928. We have had many highlights and have reached some serious lows as well. We are the sum of our parts. Consistent, loyal and just eager to support our Church and our parishes. Individually we are nothing special. Dedicated perhaps but as a team we have done some phenomenal work. We all have different skill sets to offer. We all have flaws in our faith and as human beings. As Knights we can come together as a brotherhood, and this helps us all to develop our faith on our individual journeys.

As our blog entries develop, we (meaning our collective number) hope to add stories from years passed to build up a catalogue of our involvement in Catholic Action both locally and in wider circles as well as current activities and what we hope to achieve moving forward.

We hope we can share articles of value and we hope this blog can develop to record our history and contribution to our communities both past and recent.

Thanks for reading
Damian Dillon