Pilgrimage to Ieper

Our Day Pilgrimage to Ieper (Ypres), Belgium 30th May 2017

It was poignant that we went to Ypres, the cemeteries there, the battlefields, and the memorials. The Knights of Saint Columba as an organisation was born originally to support troops coming home to Scotland (Glasgow) following the Great War and it was from there that who we are and what we stand for came about.

Many of our members here is Southend-on-Sea both past and present have connections with family members who took part in that most tragic of wars. Going to Ypres gave us time to reflect, to remember and to commemorate not just those soldiers we knew of but for those we did not know.

The many parishioners from the parishes around Southend had also come along for many reasons and including former serviceman, school children (it was half term) and families looking to learn and experience such a trip for themselves.

Through hard work, our current Chairman Liam sought information about a local lad living in Leigh-on-Sea who had served in the Great War and had volunteered with the Essex Yeomanry at the very young age of fifteen. At various points of our coach journey, Liam read letters written by this local lad; Cecil Cattell, who on writing to his family had not yet reached the frontline, but was very grateful for the gifts of cake, and asked very fondly about friends and family at home.

Private Cecil H. C. Cattell of the Essex Yeomanry

Our first stop took us the town centre to allow us to get our bearings of where different sites and places were for the day and after a quick break for lunch we were driven to the vast grounds of Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing which holds 11965 burial graves (8369 are unnamed). This was a very peaceful, clean and well respected place with a very informative visitors centre.

We gathered for a Memorial Service of prayer and remembrance where we said the De Profundis prayer for the dead, a decade of the Rosary, and listened to the words of the two poems, 'A Prayer For You' and 'In Flanders Fields'.

As we approached the visitor centre (and also inside it) we listened to a recording of a child's voice reading names of those known soldiers who had died with their picture on a screen inside the centre also ensuring that those that made the ultimate sacrifice were not forgotten.

Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial

Later we visiting Hill 62 which is a farm turned into a museum where on their land was a section of British trenches dug inside woodland where injured troops were taken to receive medical attention.

The British named the wood 'Sanctuary Wood' although there were many craters around this preserved section of trenchline to suggest that the bombing did not give much respite to those taking refuge there. The rain gathering in sections of these trenches gave only a glimpse of conditions which was visibly not favourable for any length of stay for troops.

Several columns of stacked empty shells were on the grounds and the museum (a converted house) was stacked top to bottom with artefacts, weapons, empty munitions, and images of the horrors of this war especially around the Ypres Salient. One such horror was the use of chemical warfare and the different poisonous gases used on those on the battlefield with gruesome photographs showing the damage to human life this does. To think that such gas is still used today in Syria is just a sad reminder of the barbarity of humankind.

The final letters we were read were from Cecil's mother and Cecil's commanding officer. A very sad point of our trip where after Cecil had been listed as missing, and following a mothers appeal, it was confirmed that Cecil had indeed lost his life in battle. His commanding officer replied to Cecil's mother regarding Cecil's fate, and wrote,

"I had no idea your son was so young but it may be of some consolation to you to know that he died fighting like a man and a soldier".

Back in town, Saint Martin's Cathedral, for all its current splendour, had not escaped the ravages of war having been heavily damaged in World War One and an image in the Cathedral showed the damage with a troop of soldiers marching past. We did have an unanswered question though: Why is there a doorway halfway up the side of the Cathedral? (middle picture)

At the end of the day we assembled at the Menin Gate to observe the Last Post which had been played every evening since 1928 and was the 30691st time the ceremony took place.

The packed crowd were silent throughout and we were asked to go home and remember those that gave their todays for our tomorrows. The culmination of the trip was to look amongst the many regiments and the thousands of names written in stone throughout the Menin Gate. Amongst those names at the very bottom of the list of soldiers killed from the Essex Yeomanry, was a young Private by the name of C. H. C. Cattell.

Listed soldiers of the Essex Yeomanry with added emphasis.

Cecil was killed in a charge near Potijze, Ypres on 13th [14th] May 1915, aged just 16.
May he rest in peace and may we be forever grateful for the sacrifices of those millions who died for us in the Great War so that their todays allowed us to have our tomorrows.

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.

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.

Review of 2016 - Our Faith in Action

Putting our Words into Action

2016 has been a busy year for us; much more than in previous years. With new members joining and willing to involve themselves in our work we have been able to answer the call for help much more than before and therefore become more relevant as a result. That is not to say that to be relevant means to be actively working for our Council because we have a significant portion of membership who due to ill health and age can no longer physically support our work but have the means to support us through prayer which is a stable part of what we do.

Below is a summary of our activities from month to month as a collective but this does not take in account the continued week in and week out parochial support across our parishes that many of our members as individuals provide. Those who are Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, ushers, choir members, Master of Ceremonies for Mass, altar servers, school governors, CAFOD representatives, SVP members, friends of Nazareth House, parish council members, and the work carried out as individuals for many other charities and support groups during the year such as volunteering each week for the Southchurch Foodbank.

As individuals we also celebrated the Year of Mercy and we also took parishioners from Sacred Heart Southchurch to Brentwood Cathedral in April to go through the Year of Mercy door opened there and many of us readily support our parish priests with whatever urgent support we are required to give. Our main work and support of the Church and clergy starts with the seven Catholic parishes in our area but this does extend beyond our boundaries when we are asked to do so, and we do also support parishes from the Anglican Communion when mutual support is welcomed.

Our year started as it always does with our Anniversary on January 1st and this year we gathered for Mass at Nazareth House with Father William and a fantastic way to begin a New Year on the right foot.

Also in January...

• We supported Christian Unity week
• Delivered the White Flower Appeal for SPUC at the parish of Saint Peter in Eastwood 
• Collected 300 unwanted spectacles for VisionAid Overseas collected from Anglican and Catholic parishes all around Southend,
• and ran a coffee morning at Sacred Heart

Plans were already afoot to launch our application for the CAFOD Live Simply award which was applied for in February, and we also brought a new member into our fold, supported the Real Easter Egg campaign, ran a parish social evening for the BCCS Quizzylympics, and were present for all our local Ecumenical Stations of the Cross in Leigh-on-Sea and Eastwood.

March saw us delivering the Brentwood News to all parishes around the deanery (13 churches), brought in another new member, supported another one-off Ecumenical Stations of the Cross in Southchurch, and prepared for our Bollywood evening to be held in April for the charities and causes we were supporting for the year.

After installing our officers for the year, April was the month we focussed on our Bollywood evening with a whole range of prizes to be won in our huge raffle. It was a very busy evening with 108 people being fed and entertained whilst raising much needed funds for Missio, Nazareth House and our Diocesan fund for the training of new priests.

May saw us helping out at the Mass for the Ordination of Father Michael, along with supporting local events and joining the Essex Savers Credit Union for local ethical banking. We also began to hand out the SPUC Pro Life Times around our parishes, and were involved in the 50th Anniversary events at Holy Family.

June was just as busy! We ran a full coach to the KSC 50th annual Aylesford pilgrimage where four of our number became full members, we held a parish to parish sponsored seafront walk for the BCCS starting with Mass at the parish Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Helen in Westcliff and finishing with refreshments at Saint George and the English Martyrs parish in Shoeburyness and we distributed the new Brentwood News issue around the parishes as requested. 86 additional pairs of unwanted spectacles were also collected from the parish of Saint Luke in Prittlewell for VisionAid Overseas and passed to Williams Opticians for their sorting and passing to the charity.

July began with our presence being requested at a joint community event in Westcliff with a stand to promote what we do locally, and we had members present to help with a foodbank collection from Tesco. We were busy organising our October Community Fayre and along with holding a social for ourselves to catch up, we also gave Father Lee a farewell lunch to say thanks for all his support and held a quiz for CAFOD as part of the Sacred Heart parish CAFOD campaign.

Happily due to school being out we kept August as free as we could... however, we were requested to hold a nine day Novena for peace, reconciliation and harmony which we did in the churches of Sacred Heart and Saint John Fisher, and we also held our own annual BBQ for members to take stock in the sunshine which shone brightly in sunny Southend! Mid August saw us take a coach full on a day trip to London starting with sung Mass at the beautiful parish church at Saint James Spanish Place in London and preparations were made for our CAFOD World Day of Prayer service on September 1st.

Following our CAFOD World Day of Prayer service, we were then busy handing out both the new issues of SPUC Pro Life Times and the Brentwood News around all the parishes again, and on September the 21st we celebrated our 1000th meeting with Mass and a social which was another event that took some organising but was very rewarding to be a part of.

October saw the final distribution of the SPUC Pro Life Times, and we began to sell the BCCS annual draw tickets around the parishes like we did the previous year. The build up to our first Community Fayre took centre stage but the week before we still found time to organise and hold our second parochial pilgrimage for the sick from Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph to the parish of Saint Peter in Eastwood. Our Community Fayre was six months of planning and with 19 exhibitors being showcased to the local community we felt we promoted a lot of good causes and ideas and will be looking to organise another Fayre for 2017. We hadn't finished for October as the following weekend we held an awareness drive for our Polish community for them to talk to us and gain an understanding of what we do following a request by their parish priest to do so.

November saw Father Michael becoming a Member of Honour, we were present at our annual Memorial Mass for deceased members at Brentwood Cathedral, and as well as distributing the latest Brentwood News and Diocesan Directories, we continued to travel around the parishes to sell more BCCS Annual Draw tickets in support of their work. Father Gerry became a Member of Honour, and we ran a Christmas quiz for the Sacred Heart CAFOD project too.

We ran the bottle stall at the Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph parish Christmas Fayre on the 3rd December, and continued to sell more BCCS Annual Draw tickets in the parishes and then held a Christmas social for our members and widows the following Saturday. The next day we ran the coffee morning on behalf of the parish of Saint George and the English Martyrs for their funds and individual members began collecting extra food supplies to be passed to The Storehouse (who were at our October Community Fayre) in support of the homeless and needy of Southend for the Christmas season. We ran our Keep Christ in Christmas sticker and poster campaign again for the start of Advent and if we missed any parishes of any denomination that needed supplies of these then we apologise in advance and will look to supply any parish next year if you would like to get in touch. We were also able to support another of our Community Fayre exhibitors by passing Hopeworx an oil heater, toaster, microwave and unwanted crockery to support their work in the community.

All this is on top of the regular monthly meetings we hold, the quarterly countywide meeting we attend, the regular committee meetings and evenings spent discussing and planning the future.

2016 did provide us with many challenges. We are currently putting plans together for 2017 and hopefully we can focus on more quality than quantity of activities but it is difficult to plan for the unknown as we found this year however we will do our best moving ever forward.

Thank you for your continued support.

History Made in Great Wakering

HISTORICAL EVENT –

I attended last Sunday evening’s Catholic Service at Saint Nicholas Anglican Church, Great Wakering, which was organised by C.A.M.E. (Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and Evangelical Organisation) who work in the Wakering and Shoebury area for ecumenical collaboration. 

In truth I thought there were only going to be a handful of people attending on a cold November Sunday evening, but how wrong could I be. The church was packed to capacity with at least 110 people wedged into the ancient pews. Father Brett Adams, the Catholic Parish Priest at Shoebury, led the service, with the assistance of Reverend Kim, Saint Nicholas’ Priest, and Pastor Norman from the local Methodists. 

Saint Nicholas, a Norman Church, is 1000 years old and it was the first Catholic Service held there in 500 years, since the Reformation. A predominantly Catholic congregation enjoyed a simple service that included hymns, readings and prayers; Anglicans and Methodists also joined us. Although I couldn’t attend the celebration in the hall afterwards, Father Brett reported he thoroughly enjoyed the event and hoped that strides could continue to be made between the different Christian organisations in the area. I concur with Father Brett and recommend your attendance at future events.

Liam Rand

Community Fayre 2016

We got there in the end! The day worked out very well with a steady stream of people coming in to meet the different exhibitors throughout the three hours. Feedback from all involved was that they had gained some good contacts and leads and were given good exposure which was a part of the ethos of our event.

As part of our efforts to achieve the CAFOD #LiveSimply Award we sat down early in the year to see how we could help other local charities, local support groups and local businesses that are clearly doing very good work in the community but this would have to be above and beyond the work we already carry out. We had to challenge ourselves but be mindful that we all only have a few hours a week spare around jobs, families and other commitments so it had to work well. As with all our Live Simply efforts, we did not just want to run an event there and then with who we already knew and worked with, as we wanted to stretch ourselves and our capabilities and I am glad we did. By doing so we have met many more local champions in the community; if we had doubled the floorspace we could have increased the exhibitors as people were contacting us up to 48 hours before the doors opened to see if we could fit them in and sadly we just couldn't. We will need to review what we can do better for next year so as to maximise our floor space, fit the most people in and naturally improve our advertising. Information was sent to the Southend Echo who published this both online in the weeks leading up Saturday 22nd and on the 19th they ran a short article in their paper to support our event. Details were also sent to BBC Essex.

So what happened?

Firstly this would not have been successful if the public had not turned up in number. Regardless of how many exhibitors we had booked, it would not have counted had the hall been empty. For this we have to thank the many church parishes from many denominations within the Borough of Southend for their help in promoting our Community Fayre. With posters placed on noticeboards, newsletter inserts, web entries and so forth the word was spread. In particular we had great publicity from Sherry at Southend Soup, Mick at Essex Savers Credit Union, Dan at SAVS, Chris at CAFOD Brentwood, and Karen at Crowstone United Reformed Church amongst many others who provided great support. Thank you all.

We produced a series of signs and banners to support the function itself and although the community fayre was not a fundraiser, to cover costs we ran a raffle using #fairtrade products either bought from Sainsburys Southend or from CAFOD, and both exhibitors supported the raffle through donations with a huge fairtrade hamper provided by Sainsburys Southend, and a wonderful CAFOD mug, Romero Cross and candle from CAFOD also.

Fair trade was one of the themes of the community event to encourage people to consider buying items that are fair trade to support those workers producing the items. Considering others outside of our community is a part of caring for the greater good and is our own way of looking to change our own actions to be more considerate across the board.

The light refreshments we used were all fair trade as much as they possibly could be from the tea bags, the coffee, the kit kats, to the brown sugar and the white sugar used. The milk we used was locally sourced and delivered to us that morning by N.F. Collins and Son Dairy in Rayleigh Essex who are a long established local dairy with a traditional milk round delivering to people's doorsteps. Using glass milk bottles that are washed and reused is a great recycling method and the doorstep delivery removes the need to carry large plastic containers of milk from the shops and having to dispose of the container afterwards too. N.F. Collins and Son were one of our exhibitors and thanks go to them for their kind donation of milk for the refreshments and support on the day.

With so many local charities, local support groups and local businesses coming together under one roof to encourage the public to work with them and to offer help to the public, many people came away saying how much they enjoyed the Fayre and found it very useful. After all, this day was for the people of the Borough of Southend to help them and the wide spectrum of help on offer went a long way to giving support where support was needed.

For ourselves, the Knights sold second hand books for Nazareth House, collected old mobile phones, unwanted currency for Missio, used postage stamps, and unwanted spectacles for Vision Aid Overseas whom we have been supporting for a number of years now.

We are also supporting Tools With A Mission locally and suggested the public bring unwanted tools with them on the day to pass over to the TWAM team to take away which they did and this was fantastic to see. Hopefully with the collections we are organising we can fill a transit van! I have three very large and very strong cardboard boxes stacked in my dining room to be filled for a van (much to the annoyance of my wife) so hopefully I can get them filled and out of the house before I am out of the house first!

Thank you to the Nuns at Nazareth House for allowing us use of the hall especially after our original hall booking fell through in the summer. For the last year we had been raising funds to support their work so it was providence that they came to our rescue! Just before the end of the Fayre, we were proud to present them with a cheque from monies raised throughout the year to support their work in the community.

We are already talking about doing this again next year and next time we can add improvements that will involve contacting both Southend MPs as soon as we have a date to see if we can get them involved if they are free and we will also aim to see if the Mayor of Southend is free also.

If you couldn't make our event, please still check out our exhibitors as they will either be able to help you or you may be able to help them.

Here are some pictures of some of the stalls and displays. Apologies as at the time of writing this I do not have (good) pictures of every single stall and with everything going on I struggled to remember to get around and take the photos needed.

The Exhibitors:

• Essex Savers Credit Union
• Sainsburys Superstore - Southend
• NF Collins and Son Dairy
• Southend Soup
• SAVS - Southend Association of Voluntary Services
• KSC Southend - Knights of Saint Columba
• SVP Southchurch - Saint Vincent de Paul Society
• CAFOD Brentwood
• Southend In Transition
• The Hub Southend
• Storehouse
• Hopeworx
• Alzheimers Society - Southend
• Havens Hospices
• Catholic Clothing Guild
• CWL Westcliff - Catholic Womens League
• BCCS - Brentwood Catholic Children's Society
• Tools with a Mission 
• Nuns of Nazareth House

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.