Sharing the Journey for the BCCS and CAFOD
Our 2018 annual sponsored walk took place on Saturday June 2nd and as in previous years, involved walking from Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Helen in Westcliff-on-Sea to the parish of Saint George and the English Martyrs via the seafront and along the sea wall. The promotion of this walk did not involve online videos or short pulpit appeals as in previous years and we just kept to newsletter entries within the parishes of the Borough of Southend and through word of mouth within the Knights community also.
The number of walkers was up on last year, and we had new people join us with at least one person each from the Catholic parishes in Southend with us this time around including four children. We also had Martin from Wickford (Rayleigh Council 456) with us, and were due to have John and his wife Hilary from Stratford Council 426 as they had joined us many times in years passed but unfortunately they had to pull out just a couple of days before.
This was our fundraiser for the Brentwood Catholic Children's Society (BCCS) and is our chance to help our local Diocesan charity to continue their work especially considering that they do not receive any direct funding from the Diocese and rely on the support through voluntary donations. This year however, we were able to incorporate the CAFOD 'Share the Journey' campaign within the structure of the day as 'Share the Journey' did not involve fundraising because it is a walking campaign to raise awareness and to gain participation.
We gathered for Mass at 10am which included our drivers to offer lifts back to the start once the walk had concluded, and after Mass, we set about distributing the CAFOD action cards which included information about the campaign and had our opening prayer to start the walk with. We were also privileged to carry a Lampedusa Cross with us for the walk and its significance was pointed out to each walker before we left. The Cross we carried was made from wood from refugee boats that had sunk off of the shores of the island of Lampedusa so its presence with us while we walked was very real.
We then set off on our five mile walk down past the cliffs and onto the esplanade following the sea wall eastwards towards the parish of Saint George and on arrival in the hall were greeted with smiles and refreshments and Father Brett who was there to greet us as we came through the doors.
Certificates of achievement from the BCCS were handed out to all walkers, and signed action cards were collected which will go to our Prime Minister asking her to work with other world leaders to ensure favourable agreements for migration and refugees.
We finished with the closing prayer from the card, and those that were still present gathered for a group photo before the available lifts back were mobilised to get everyone back safely.
And in case you were wondering, the first person to finish the walk did not have to do a lap of honour!
