BCCS and CAFOD Walk

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!

Walk for BCCS & CAFOD

St Helens to St George's Sponsored Walk for the BCCS and CAFOD 'Share the Journey'

For the past few years we have run a parish walk for the Brentwood Catholic Children's Society (BCCS) to raise funds to support their work and this year we are hosting this again but with a twist.

To find out more about the very important work that the BCCS provide to children and young adults within Essex and East London please visit their website at http://www.bccs.org.uk/

The walk itself is the fundraiser and a chance for our two parishes to join together along what is normally a pleasant seafront walk with Father Joseph until we finish with tea and biscuits and a chance to chat at the end.

This takes place on Saturday 2nd June.

The 'twist' this year is that CAFOD have a campaign called 'Share the Journey' where they are asking parishes and people to walk for the campaign, to record the miles walked collectively, and with the miles logged, sign a petition card that CAFOD can then take and present to our Prime Minister calling for agreements to be made at the United Nations for refugees and migration. For full details of the campaign visit cafod.org.uk/Campaign/Share-the-Journey for more information.

The details

Firstly, those that can will gather at the parish of Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Helen in Milton Road Westcliff-on-Sea when Mass will be celebrated at 10am. After Mass we will gather in the car park by the church entrance and with Father Joseph we will make our way to the seafront visit the Cliffs leaving at around 10.45am.

We will then walk along the sea wall, past Southend pier, and continue until we reach Ness Road where we will leave the seafront and walk the short remaining distance until we reach the parish hall at the parish of Saint George and the English Martyrs in Shoeburyness There will be refreshements available in the hall (tea, biscuits etc). The walk is just under five and a half miles from start to finish and we normally start arriving in the hall after midday.

If you are thinking of walking with us then please contact us for a registration form and a sponsor form. Registration is free and any sponsorship you raise will go to the BCCS. Julie from the BCCS will be in the hall at the end of the walk to greet people and to give out certificates to walkers and if you wanted to pass money raise over that point then you are welcome to do so. Please dress appropriately for the walk and the weather conditions and please bring water for the journey.

The CAFOD cards will be handed out for walkers to sign in the hall at the end and will then be collected up and passed to CAFOD directly.

BCCS Walk 2017

Sponsored Seafront Walk 2017 for the Brentwood Catholic Children's Society

This year we walked much later than normal; Saturday 1st July to be exact and we had the most beautiful weather to accompany us.

We also had people walking from ages 8 up to 81 years of age and everyone who took part completed the walk which was fantastic.

The day started by dropping a car to the finishing point for lifts back at the walks completion and on picking both Joan and Margaret up from St George's we travelled the route almost in reverse as we headed to the starting point.

Father Joseph said Mass at 10am and then got ready to walk also and at the time of leaving the sun had burnt away the clouds and a light breeze accompanied the full sunshine.

As in previous years we had different people setting off from different start points with Hilary and John walking from Westcliff train station having arrived from Stratford by train, and Brian walking from his parish in Prittlewell. Our main party included parishioners from Benfleet, Westcliff, Leigh-on-Sea and Prittlewell and we were all eager to do our bit and finish too.

Just over halfway we paused for respite and Father Joseph lead us in prayer before the final stretch towards the parish hall of Saint George where we were warmly met by Frank and Val for a hot drink and biscuits and Julie from the BCCS greeted us too and gave out the certificates to the walkers.

Thank you to all who gave support for this event.

The wonderful Val and Frank serving refreshments

Our Walkers - 

BCCS Walk 2017

On Saturday 1st July, we are holding the annual sponsored seafront walk for the Brentwood Catholic Children's Society or BCCS for short.

We will be walking from St Helens in Westcliff to St George's in Shoeburyness following 10am Mass at St Helens, and Father Joseph will be walking with us once again.

To read about last years walk, please visit our previous blog write up at:

http://ksc192.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/walking-walk.html

Some of the walkers at the finish in 2016

If you would like to take part in the walk, cheer us on, or even sponsor us, then please contact Damian by email (damian.dillon@btinternet.com) and both the registration form for the walk and the sponsorship form can be emailed accordingly.

Damian's son helped to record the following short promotional video which is 1 minute 37 seconds long and can be viewed below:

If you wanted to donate some money towards the event no matter the size, and in particular if you wanted to sponsor Father Joseph then you are welcome to use this online sponsor page which is safe and secure, and all monies will go direct to the BCCS with no deductions. Every penny helps. You can also gift aid also through this online sponsor page hosted by BT.

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/ksc192-2017 

Thank you and a write up of this years walk will be added here in July after the event.

Walking the 'Walk'

Walking the 'Walk' for the Brentwood Catholic Children's Society (BCCS)

Group photo at the end of the walk with certificates

On Saturday the 4th June, the Knights ran our annual seafront sponsored walk for the BCCS from Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Helen in Westcliff-on-Sea to the parish hall of Saint George and the English Martyrs in Shoeburyness. A walk of various guises has taken place each year for must be over twenty years without a nod towards the archives but it must be noted that this would not happen without the support of our parish priest at Saint Helens; Father Joseph who without his support this annual event would stumble. Father Joseph gives us our starting point; a Mass for everyone involved to participate and not just those walking.

We are also thankful to the parish of Saint George who allow us to use the hall for rest and refreshments at the end and we have not always had clear established start and finish points in the past.

Margaret

There are several other key players who also play a major part in the success of our walk - Julie from the BCCS who is ever present in the hall at the finish in her own time to meet and greet the weary travellers and hand out certificates with gratitude. Husband and wife Frank and Val who open and set up the hall and provide hot drinks and a mountain of biscuits for the walkers to enjoy and always with a welcoming smile which really does help. Also thanks must go to Margaret who every year raises extraordinary amounts of funds for the BCCS and without Margaret we really would miss the effort and promotion that she brings.

Frank and Val

So what happened this year? Well, the return of the winter weather we had during the week was pleasantly replaced by the 'right' walking weather when we set off. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold with cloud cover and no wind. A contrast to previous years which have either been blistering hot sunshine or persistent drenching rain. Cars were left in Shoeburyness early in the morning and those from Shoeburyness were collected and taken to Saint Helen's for the start of the 10am Mass.

One of the pier trains in the gloom of the cloud and below the train are the still waters of the Thames Estuary

We had fourteen walkers in total with John and Hilary making the train journey (not the pier train) from Stratford to Westcliff-on-Sea to walk separately to the main group and met us in the hall at Saint George's. We had Brian walking from Saint John Fishers in Prittlewell having locked up that church after morning service and walking the extra journey to meet us on route, and a thank you must go to Faustina who did most of the walk despite not being well and stopped on route to get the bus back home.

As always the seafront walk is never a race and we have a Knight to the front of the column of walkers and one at the rear to keep an eye anyone who may need some assistance and also to stop our chairman from pretending to tie his shoe laces while the others continue and then nipping into The Castle pub for a swift pint before catching a taxi back to the fold before anyone notices. That last sentence may not be true but it is always best to be prepared!

Walking along the seafront in Westcliff-on-Sea with the tide in (to the left of the picture)

It is always fun to find out who was first to reach the hall and then to shock them that as 'winners' they have to do a lap of honour which naturally is the whole walk again. We did the five and a half miles in good time and the walk gives those walking an opportunity to catch up and talk and it is surprising to not realise how quickly the walk can be finished when one walks with others in conversation and taking in the beautiful views along the seafront.

It is early days yet before we find out how much the whole event raised. Exposure and promotion is always good and the funds raised go towards the great work that the BCCS do not just in the Catholic schools around Essex but their demand sees them regularly called to other schools to help young children also and it is an honour for us to be able support them in any way we can.

We hope to be able to continue to run the walk again around May/June 2017 and we always welcome new people taking part as every penny raised regardless of the how much or little or always very much appreciated.

Thank you to all who took part and to all who supported in any way.

Successful and Fun Evening at Our Bollywood Night - Saturday 16th April

Our Bollywood Night on Saturday 16th April raised £1,115.83 so a big thank to all who contributed in any way.

It was hard work that started back in 2015 when the original plan was to have an auction but we changed it to an evening of Indian culture with an Indian buffet, music and film, and we held a raffle with a staggering 21 prizes to offer. We sold just over a thousand tickets for the draw and with 21 prizes the odds were good of winning one of the prizes and we had 108 people at the door all greeted with their own garland for the evening.

Mike with coffee ready to meet and greet the 108 guests for the evening

Thank you to all the people and businesses that contributed and helped to make the evening a success at the Mazenod Hall in the grounds of the parish of Saint Peter in Eastwood. We had a slideshow projecting a promotion of all the businesses, contributors, and the raffle prizes onto a large wall throughout the evening so that those present were aware of how the evening was being supported.

Most of the prizes on display before the start of the evening

During the evening, guests took the chance to have their picture taken professionally by Picture Perfect Pro who also donated one of the top prizes. This proved popular with the guests who had travelled from all around the parishes of Southend and from further a field also.

The run of tables ready for the range of hot Indian food.

The Ashiana Indian Restaurant in Southchurch provided the food for the buffet at a great price with a wide selection of dishes to choose from and they brought it, piping hot to the hall for us straight from their kitchen. Everyone was delighted with the food and one couple won two tickets to Sunday lunch at the Ashiana in our raffle draw. For dessert Liam had risked a frozen car that afternoon by buying a car load of ice cream tubs that had people coming back for seconds. Duncan with Phil manned the bar and were serving drinks all night long including Fairtrade tea and coffee as part of our commitment to our CAFOD LiveSimply work that our Council are working towards.

The raffle draw as it was under way

We drew tickets for the prizes in two intervals; just before the food was served for prizes from twenty -one down to ten, and then after dinner our ten top prizes with the flat screen TV being the first prize - just to build some excitement. The money raised on the evening is to be split across several charities that we are supporting currently, with the main benefactors being MISSIO, Nazareth House in Westcliff-on-Sea, and the Brentwood Ecclesiastic Education Fund for the training of new priests in our Diocese.

It was a real joyful evening, and for everyone to say how much they enjoyed themselves as they left to go home was good to hear. We tried hard to better our Jazz evening from September 2015 and I think this Bollywood evening was equally as good. Special thanks to go all the Knights present who helped with setting up the hall, working throughout the evening and clearing up afterwards. The wives were fantastic too especially with organising the men in the kitchen as the amount of washing up was phenomenal. We tend to struggle to take pictures as the evening progresses because we are always in the thick of the action and the same applied here as all the Knights were busy each doing their own particular task to keep the evening flowing as smoothly as it could.

Promoting our sponsored walk on June 4th

Onwards to our next event which is our sponsored walk for the Brentwood Catholic Children's Society on June 4th and we couldn't miss the opportunity to promote this to our valued guests (along with our Knights pilgrimage by coach to Aylesford Priory on the 12th June too; closest Sunday to the Feast of Saint Columba).

Thank you all.

QUIZZYLIMPICS COMES TO SAINT JOHN FISHER'S IN PRITTLEWELL 

This was a long time coming after this quiz had changed venues and dates on more than one occasion but after advertising this in the bulletins around the five parishes and seven churches locally, the Knights of Saint Columba finally held this event in the Borough of Southend-on-Sea on the evening of Saturday 20th February and a very enjoyable evening was had by all present. This regional quiz was contested with a chance to reach the grand final as part of an initiative by the Brentwood Catholic Children's Society (BCCS) and was free to enter which made the evening very attractive.

The teams set about choosing a name for their tables and if points were awarded for the names they all picked then the scoring would have been high before the quizmaster had even asked the first question.

Sitting at the top table helping the quiz to function along its merry path can certainly give you a relieved feeling when you see the questions and think 'Oh I know that', and then when the answer is finally given, you realise that what you thought was a name of a type of tortoise was in fact one of the most deadly snakes on the earth. Yes I was having a bad day and lucky for the teams that I wasn't placed on one of their tables!

With that confession out the way, the quiz was highly contested with two teams tying for last place and two teams finishing joint first. Thankfully the two teams that came first represented two different churches so they qualified to both go forward to the BCCS Quizzylimpics final on March 18th in the hall at Brentwood Cathedral.

We held a mid quiz raffle with some fantastic prizes on offer; well it wouldn't be the same if we didn't and a retiring collection for the BCCS ensured that as a fundraiser the whole evening was a worthwhile exercise.

QUIZZYLYMPICS – Saturday 20th February 

Organised by the Knights of Saint Columba (KSC) of Southend-on-Sea in aid of Brentwood Catholic Children's Society (BCCS). Free to enter to anyone, please bring a team to Saint John Fisher Hall to compete in this topical quiz where the winning team will advance to the Diocesan Final to be held in Brentwood later in the year. If you do not have a team don't worry, we can form individuals and couples into groups. Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start – there will be a raffle during the interval in aid of the KSC and a retiring collection in aid of BCCS.