1000th Meeting

Our 1000th meeting, Mass and Social

Southend-on-Sea 192 was born on January 1st 1928 and on Wednesday 21st September 2016 we celebrated our 1000th meeting with Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph; the parish where it all started for us.

Our Charter and the original minute book from our very first meeting in 1928.

We were in the upper room of the magnificent hall at Our Lady of Lourdes and we held a rapid 1000th meeting that had to be finished to allow us enough time to prepare ourselves for Mass at 7.30pm; and we were ready in quick succession. A record short meeting time for us and Board of Director Michael Malone commented that ALL meetings of ours should be completed in that amount of time. Just goes to show how us men can waffle on in our own way.

30 minutes before the start of Mass

With the room prepared for our return after Mass we headed into the church to gather our thoughts and to remember past members gone to their rest. As the start of Mass moved closer, many of the Knights present gathered to the side to lead a procession up the main aisle towards the altar and it was some procession as we were through the three verse entrance hymn before everyone had taken their places.

Our new book of remembrance was placed at the foot of the altar to remain there throughout Mass and within its pages are recorded the names of past members resting in peace.

Father Jeff Woolnough, Chaplain to our Council said Mass for us on the Feast Day of Saint Matthew with two other priests con-celebrating - Father Graham (one of our Members of Honour) and Father Paul Dobson from Ontario Canada, and much was made of our successes that evening although we are very much aware of the work ahead of us as we look to consolidate our numbers and back up our words with continued action.

Monsignor Canon Kevin Hale VG, another of our Members of Honour, who was also present kindly gave us a rousing congratulations which was very nice of him to do that.

Five of our number were presented with their Silver Jubilee Awards by Provincial Grand Knight Robert Sobola and Supreme Board Member Michael Malone for 25 years unbroken membership and as decorated members they join our two Golden Jubilarians of fifty years plus membership who incidentally are both Past Provincial Grand Knights also. We were graced with the presence of several of our Provincial Officers, neighbouring Council members, widows and families of Brothers now gone to their rest, and many friends we have made on our journey.

A respectable number of guests in the congregation then joined us for drinks and a buffet after Mass in the hall offering a chance to catch up and chat, to view artefacts and old photographs from the Council's history, and discuss the future direction of the Knights as an Order.

The old photographs and information we put out was well received by those present especially when looking for history involving family and members no longer with us. It was especially fitting to be able to display awards to former stalwart members over the years donated by families after the brother had died but showing how pivotal their contributions had been in earlier days to ensure we reached our 1000th meeting milestone in our 88th year of existence.

All in all a very uplifting evening was had by all. Thank you to all those involved in making this happen. To the wives who ran the buffet and drinks and cleared up, to all the guests, widows, family members and friends and especially our clergy for taking part in making this a special occasion.

Parochial Walk Sunday 16th October

Parochial Pilgrimage For The Sick

In 2015 the Knights ran a church to church pilgrimage from Saint John Fishers' to Sacred Heart and did it in silence whilst praying for the sick for that parish both known and unknown. We felt it was received well as we opened it up to parishioners and Father Tom joined us, so we have planned to do the same in Leigh-on-Sea this year on Sunday 16th October.

Starting at the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph we will be present and take part in Mass at 8.00am, then after Mass gather outside for a few minutes for anyone wishing to join us before departing.  We then will be walking in silence praying for the sick all the time with a stop halfway for a group prayer and onwards until we reach Saint Peter's. The walk is under two miles. We would then remain at Saint Peter's to attend the next Mass at 10.15am before departing. We would stop halfway on the walk to say a prayer as a group. There may even be a coffee morning after the 10.15am Mass but we would need to check nearer the date.

Parishioners are welcome to join us, gathering outside immediately after 8am Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph in Leigh-on-Sea.

Logging the hours: Our 1000th Meeting approaches this September 2016

What is so special about making it to our 1000th meeting? 

It is not as if we have reached our centenary year as that would be in 2028 and still a long way off but what is the 'big deal'? 

Well, firstly we have had to pull up our sleeves on many occasions just to keep going as the prospect of closing has come up at meetings in the past and like most volunteer organisations connected to the Church, it is always a looming possibility especially with an element of members, who shall I say are of a certain mature pedigree and disposition.

Southend-on-Sea 192 began life on the first of January 1928; New Years Day! They were certainly keen. 192 was also the first Knights Council in the Borough of Southend but we have not been the only one as there have been two other Councils with 'Southend 310' borne from 192 and starting up on the 28th February 1937 to cover the East side of Southend out to Shoeburyness leaving Council 192 with the strongholds of Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph in Leigh-on-Sea and Our Lady Help of Christians with Saint Helen in Westcliff-on-Sea. 192 became dormant during the years of the Second World War unlike 310 who operated in some capacity throughout,

Looking through our old minutes and record books we have had a number of interesting people present at our meetings. Among them, Cardinal Francis Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster graced us with his presence back on 9th February 1930. One of our members became a priest in our Diocese; Father Gordon Godfrey RIP, and several of our members became local politicians and campaigners for many causes, so our meetings have been in the past, and still remain vibrant gatherings for both spiritual and Catholic action. 

And it all started with our first meeting held in the Our Lady of Lourdes hall in the parish grounds of Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph, and on September 21st we are back in that parish to hold our 1000th meeting.

This September 21st 2016  we will start our meeting early which will be adjourned before our final prayers so that we can move inside the church to prepare ourselves for Mass. During Mass, a number of our members will be recognised for consistent membership of 25 years of more by being presented with their Silver Jubilee Award, and we hope to have not only a number of local clergy presided but Knights from Province and other Councils in attendance.

At the end of Mass we will move back into the hall to conclude our meeting with our closing prayers in time for our clergy and guests to then join us for a social gathering with food and wine, and a display of Knights Memorabilia and documents will be on show including old photographs.

As the saying goes, "There is never a dull day in this office", and we hope to continue serving those in need, serving our clergy, and serving the Catholic Church for another thousand plus meetings.

KSC192 See A Way to Support Vision Aid Overseas

Supporting Vision Aid Overseas

Following an appeal at our quarterly countywide meeting, the Knights from Southend-on-Sea agreed to support a collection of used spectacles for the charity Vision Aid Overseas; a charity that were supported both nationwide and locally by the Knights back in 2009 to 2011 as our then current National Action Project.

Vision Aid Overseas runs a nationwide spectacle collection scheme which operates to raise money for Vision Aid Overseas. Recycled spectacles are not sent overseas and Vision Aid Overseas ensure spectacles are recycled in an environmentally-friendly way and income generated from recycling is used to support their programmes overseas.

With posters provided by the charity we prepared collection boxes all nicely packaged and labelled up and quickly asked a handful of different Catholic and Anglican parishes around the borough of Southend-on-Sea for support for a collection in their respective churches and parishes. The response we received was amazing especially considering we were limited in the amount of boxes and posters we had available to spread around.

Collections took place in the Catholic parishes of Our Lady of Lourdes in Leigh-on-Sea, Saint Helens in Westcliff, Sacred Heart in Southchurch and Saint John Fishers in Prittlewell along with the Anglican parishes of Saint James the Great in Leigh-on-Sea, and Saint Lukes in Prittlewell. With the two deliveries of spectacles taken to Williams Opticians in Elm Road, Leigh-on-Sea, in total we collected close to 300 pairs of used spectacles for Williams Opticians to pass on to the charity and they were very accommodating and supportive of the whole appeal. This was a fantastic way for many people in the Southend area to come together to show Christian unity and solidarity for those less fortunate.

First batch collected in October - almost 70 pairs

We could have opted to take the collections to a national chain of opticians who also work with Vision Aid but locally Williams Opticians have a great reputation. We asked them about their work with the charity and they responded, "Williams Opticians are pleased to continue their association with Vision Aid  Overseas. It is a worth while cause offering those less fortunate the chance of sight, something that we take for granted. This donation of 230 pairs goes together with hundreds already collected in the past."

Handing over our second batch to the owner of Williams Opticians - Paul Gallivan

The collection took place over a number of weeks in the run up to Advent, but in many of the parishes, the support has kept coming even after the posters and boxes had been removed which goes to show the charity that can be found around Southend-on-Sea especially at a time when most people were pre-occupied with their Christmas celebrations and preparations.

Vision Aid overseas can be found on the internet at www.visionaidoverseas.org

Williams Opticians can be visited in person at 90 Elm Rd, Leigh-on-Sea SS9 1SJ and
online at www.williamsopticians.com