5 attendees: OC = Owen Clutton, DB = Diana Betts, PL = Peter Lowe (secretary), JA = June Adams, BF = Breda Ford.

Apologies were received from: David McCabe and Roger Wright.

1.          CAFOD LiveSimply and Connect2

OC: Mary O’Mahony or Roger Wright would be best to advise on this subject.

2.       Manna Centre Collections

OC will check with Madeleine Howell regarding the arrangements for the wheelie bins.  OC will ask Fr Bryan to give advance notice of the collection on 16/17th June which will be for toiletries.

3.       Traidcraft stall

OC reported there was not much news on how the Traidcraft stall would be run in future.

BF had spoken to David McCabe, who had ordered 10 tins of coffee, of which she had bought two for the kitchen.  There are still issues with people in the parish not understanding that only Fairtrade tea and coffee can be served.  She was still unsure about the Traidcraft stall however.

OC & BF suggested asking for volunteers to run the stall.  Six volunteers are required each weekend.

4        J&P Group at St Joseph’s

OC reported that a J&P Group had started at St Joseph’s, Bromley.  He wondered if there was any possibility of running joint activities.

JA suggested the possibility of having joint speakers and meetings every 3 months.

5        “More Than Gold” initiative

OC raised this subject but was not sure how J&P could be involved.  The initiative is basically calling on all churches in all denominations to respond to the Olympics with gospel outreach, volunteering and hospitality.

BF noted that one scheme suggested was for people to offer to host the families of athletes.  In some cases the families could not afford the prices of accommodation.

The More Than Gold website is a good place to look: http://www.morethangold.org.uk/.  It looks like something that needs a parish response.

6.       New J&P projects

A general discussion exploring activities with which the Group could engage in future then followed.

OC noted that at the moment we support the Manna Centre and the Orpington Foodbank. However do we need something to replace You Touch Africa (UTA)?  Writing to prisoners of conscience would also be a possibility.

JA reported that there had been talk at her church about The Passage – a very illuminating talk about getting the homeless back on track.

BF thought it was good idea, but might be too similar to the Manna Centre.

DB reminded the Group that Roger Wright was going to find out more info on Connect2.  There was also some possibility of continuing support of UTA.

JA felt that supporting UTA again might not be a good idea until we have had a full account on the funds already donated.

OC asked if it was worth contacting Amnesty International, or could we just write directly?

BF said that Fr George (at Chislehurst West) writes Christmas cards to prisoners of conscience.

OC said he would find out more about this. JA said she would Amnesty information from her friend before we contact them directly.

DB said that the Group needs to decide at the next meeting whether we support a charity at home or abroad.

OC thought more members should be present to make a concrete decision.  If we did contact Amnesty, initially the J&P members would work on this and then perhaps Fr Bryan could advertise for more volunteers.

BF said that Fr George gives out lists of names to write to.  If some of the prisoners were young, perhaps the younger parishioners would get involved.

OC noted that Joanna Longhurst has suggested we have a permanent bin for the Food bank at the back of the church.  This will be emptied when it is full.  This would help to serve as a reminder of the constant need.  OC was happy to buy a container if no suitable one can be found.  The three weekend Foodbank collections would still be held.

BF said it does not have to be a big container.  The only problem is that it might interfere with Manna Centre collections.

OC suggested it would only interfere when we have the harvest festival collection, and for the period of about two weeks, we could move the bin out of the way.  Delivery to the Foodbank can be on a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday (from 10am to 2pm), and we would deliver smaller but regular collections.

OC noted that the date of the next meeting is 27th June.  The next Manna Centre collection will be the weekend of 16/17th June.

There being no other business, the meeting closed at approximately 9.05pm.