Attendees (6): Diana Betts, Caroline Price, Angela Martin, Roger Wright, Peter Lowe, Teresa Wells.

Apologies were received from (3): Madeleine Howell, Fr Bryan and David McCabe.

Introduction

Our chairman wasn’t present at the meeting so items were discussed on an ad hoc basis.

Blackheath contact

Roger had been in touch with the chair of J&P at St Mary’s, as agreed at the last meeting.  Claire Bates had kindly written an outline of the activities in which her group has been engaged and some information about the way they work.  Copies of her text were read by those present.  Many of the initiatives are similar to our own but it was agreed that some of the ideas might be adopted by us in future.  Examples were their Christmas ‘giving tree’ and the idea of organising a parish event to raise funds for J&P.  Their group is given an allowance of £500 per quarter by the Parish which is used to pump prime fund-raising events.  They had also found the Westminster Diocese J&P Commission’s booklet “No Hands But Ours” a very helpful document which they had studied over several months.

Questions for parliamentary candidates

David had requested members to send questions so he could write to all prospective MPs.  Roger read out the ones he had sent and comments were made about improving these.

Various discussions

The rest of the meeting consisted of discussion about what our group is doing and might do.  It was agreed that we should follow the general principle of focussed initiatives.  In summary the following topics were mulled over:

• Re-iteration of our support for Fr Arbo’s charity “You Touch Africa”.  Owen had emailed Fr Arbo and was in touch with one of the charity’s trustees.  It was now a question of Fr Bryan agreeing a date when he could address the parish at Sunday Mass.  Fr Bryan to liaise with Owen.
• Our support of the Manna Centre will be an important part of our effort.  It was agreed that we needed Madeleine to find out what supplies were needed next and to organise a date for their collection.  It was also noted that the wheelie bins were already full of clothes – their source unknown.
• The CAFOD raffle had been very successful thanks to David’s organisation.  It was suggested that the raffle should be publicised amongst all parish groups well in advance.  This idea led to thoughts about improving general communication between groups in order to assist one another’s efforts.
• Members liked the idea of a Saturday evening fund-raising event for families.  This could be an enjoyable way of raising funds for “You Touch Africa”.  Suggestions for events included a Beetle Drive and Quiz Night.

The meeting closed at 9pm.

Date of Next Meeting – Tuesday 11th May, 8.00pm in the Hall/Social Centre

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