St Patricks Celebration in Southend

When Southend-on-Sea became Irish... (for one night at least)!

A packed hall

We came together to celebrate Saint Patricks Day albeit a day late to accommodate a weekend, and to put on a evening to bring some cheer to the local area during this season of Lent.

First off the cuff, we had Father Jeff behind the bar serving drinks. Father Jeff serving the drinks! We told him to leave it alone but he is like the Duracell bunny who doesn't stop working even when he is not meant to be. And who are we to argue with our Chaplain?

Lots of dancing

What an evening we had. Bruno and Audrey took charge having set about decorating the hall the night before and making sure their idea was the best it could be. The couple had sold over seventy tickets between them.

We had Irish Stew on the stove, we had potatoes in the oven, we had Guinness at the bar, we had an Irish sing song with John Puddick and we had the McGowan Lee Irish dancers entertain us most wonderfully.

John Puddick whipping the crowd into shape

There was couples dancing too and to cap it all we did amazingly well with the raffle.

Over 140 parishioners from across the five different parishes in the area supported the evening and with financial assistance with the bar from some very nice people we were able to offer drinks complimentary; naturally we ran out of alcohol before the evening finished!

Above: a short video of the McGowan Lee Irish dancers performing

We raised over £1300 for our causes throughout the evening with the money to go to the parish of Saint Peter, Eastwood; where we held the function, for Missio of whom we are supporting nationally, for the Diocesan fund for the training of new priests, to help our own operating costs and for Nazareth House, Westcliff-on-Sea. It does help however, to have a few of our members of Irish heritage to add a bit of flavour and personal touches to the evening.

A big thank you to all who supported and helped with this event of ours.

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.

Social at St Peters on Sat 16th April with brilliant raffle prizes

Raffle Prizes to be drawn on Saturday 16th April 2016

On Saturday 16th April the Knights of Saint Columba present a celebration of Indian culture through food, film and music at Saint Peter’s Mazenod Parish Hall, Eastwood, Essex. It will be a two course Indian buffet to include vegetarian options, followed by ice cream priced at £10 per person. Wine, beer, juice, tea and coffee will be on sale. 

It is a chance for people across the parishes with the Southend Deanery to get together with members of the Knights and to enjoy a fun social evening together with several parishes all together.

During the evening, our raffle will take place once all ticket stubs have been collated and placed into the draw, and then one ticket at a time will be drawn for each prize.

Because of the generosity of several businesses, individuals, and organisations, we have had donated a large array of prizes for the draw. There were too many to list on the tickets sold so we have had to produce a list on the internet for participants to view.

Below is the current list last updated on Friday 25th March.

There are still gifts and details to be confirmed which will be added to the list below as we get them.

If you wish to buy any tickets, please contact us on the above details:

RAFFLE PRIZES (last updated on Friday 25^th March)

·      42” Toshiba Television

·      Picture Perfect Pro – Professional photographer – Family portrait printed onto 16” x 12” canvas  worth £150

·      2 Tickets for a show at the Cliffs Pavilion (details of show to follow)

·      2 Tickets for the Odeon Cinema

·      Bottle Whisky

·      Bottle Brandy

·      Bottle Champagne (x2 prizes)

·      2 People for Sunday Lunch at Ashiana Restaurant, Southchurch

·      A Limited Edition Print (details to follow)

·      Bottle Red Wine (x3 prizes)

·      Bottle White Wine (x 3 prizes)

·      Tomassi’s Restaurant Voucher

·      Strand Productions – A Days Course – “Script Management” worth £200

Coffee morning with a 'bang'er!

Today's coffee morning was a great success so it goes without saying, a BIG thank you to all the parishioners and visitors who came in for coffee, a chat and some decent food at Sacred Heart, Southchurch after the 11am Mass.

The proceeds from today is to be spread across our charity funds and to help with our operating costs and we are supporting Missio, Nazareth House and B.E.E.F. (Brentwood Ecclesiastical Education Fund) for the training of new priests. We raised over £160. Thank you again to all who supported including our chairman Liam and his wife Sandy who were the first in and last to leave as they often are.

The teas and coffees, sausages in baguettes, and cheese baguettes proved very popular with a queue for the food stretching half way down the length of the hall at one point. Knights member for nearly sixty years and retired master chef Brian Dillon was asked to look after the sausages and cook some onions, and for something as simple as onions drew many a favourable customer comment saying that the onions were perfect. Just goes to show that if you know what you are doing then whatever you do you do it to the best of your ability.

We had thirteen prizes for the raffle, nine members in attendance, and every kind of relish, sauce and pickle you could think of to put in the baguettes. It had even stopped raining by the time we had cleared up and left to head home, and yes, the sausages sold out!

Knights of Saint Columba Southend-on-Sea 192 - Coffee Morning at Sacred Heart Hall, Southchurch

Sunday 31st January, after the 11.00am Mass at Sacred Heart. Sausage baguettes or a ploughman's for only £1.50 each. Fantastic raffle prizes. Proceeds to KSC, Missio, Nazareth House and B.E.E.F. (Brentwood Ecclesiastical Education Fund) - charities supported by your local Knights during 2016. Your support is much appreciated!