The Union of Catholic Mothers at St Alban’s Wallasey recently invited CAFOD to give a presentation about Cambodia. They have a link with Cambodia through the Parish and wanted to know more about the areas in which CAFOD worked and the approaches we take to our worki.e. how our values come through our work.
The ladies were moved by the human stories and wanted to send a picture and message to the Samrong Mean Chey Community.

Clodagh Byrne The Programme Support Officer for Cambodia wrote the following:

Thanks so much for the photos and message. I will send it on to SCC and the Samrong Meanchey community today. Actually this week is a special time for Cambodia – they are celebrating their annual Pchum Benh festival, an important holy week, where families remember their ancestors. They visit temples to pray, light candles and incense and prepare traditional food offerings for the monks. I am sure that SCC and the Samrong Meanchey community will be delighted to receive this greeting from the Union of Catholic Mothers during this special time of celebration.

St Mary’s Church Crewe was bedecked with flowers for their annual Flower Festival. The theme of this year’s festival was “The Rosary in Flowers”.
The Second Joyful Mystery “The Visitation” was dedicated to the CAFOD Group in the Parish who, inspired by Scripture and Social teaching as well as the experiences and hopes of people who are disadvantaged and living in poverty, seek to make their lives richer. The beautiful flowers were arranged by Angie Narotham one of our wonderful volunteers in the Parish.

St Werburgh’s and St Laurence’s Parish Hall Birkenhead was the venue for a Social Afternoon with an Irish Theme. The hall rang to the sounds of Michael Coyne’s Accordion playing familiar and much loved Irish tunes.
The afternoon is a whir of activity with dancing, bingo and auction refreshments and a Bring and Buy table.
Finbarr Stewart a CAFOD volunteer organizes proceedings with military like precision and great fun is had by all.
The afternoon proceedings raised £1,030 for the East Africa Appeal. The generosity and support of the Birkenhead community is astounding. Our thanks also go to Fr Ray burke for use of the Parish Hall.

It was a privilege to attend a “Peace Concert” at South Cheshire College on Wednesday September 21st. Primary Schools from Crewe had gathered with their teachers families and friend to hold a “Concert for Peace” on “World Peace Day”. They sang traditional peace songs such as “Blowing in the Wind” and “If I had a Hammer” and finished with a brilliant version of “Peace will Come”.Between the songs peace poems were read composed by children from the schools. At the end of the evening an ex Poet Laureate from Cheshire awarded a certificate to the pupil with the winning entry.
This is her poem

When will peace come?

Peace is not to be heard
The sound of bombs fills my ears.

Peace is not to be felt
The feeling of hope swirls round the room.

WHEN WILL PEACE COME?

Peace is not to be seen
The sight of ash-covered ground fills my eyes.

Peace is not to be tasted
The taste of bitter fear fills my mouth.

WHEN WILL PEACE COME?

A bomb hits the ground
And my heart hopes for peace.

WHEN WILL PEACE COME?
WHEN WILL PEACE COME?
What a wonderful evening with such a powerful message.
Thank you Matthew Plant and St Mary’s Crewe for the invitation.

Orienteering finding out about Climate Justice

Playing the Climate Change Game

Climate Justice was the focus for a Retreat Day at Sacred Heart and St Peter’s Church in Wythenshawe. Fr Paul Standish kindly gave us use of the Church, Guild Room , garden and presbytery for the day.
Sixty Yr 6 pupils and staff took part in activities which included , the climate Change Game, Climate Change Orienteering, Unfair Games, a weave of the groups earth ,fire water sun and moon as well as a reflective session about St Francis and the pupils own responses to climate justice.

The day opened and closed with liturgy and Father, with the help of his parishioners, provided a wonderful cooked lunch.

Without the help of Fr Paul and his parishioners, our school volunteers Eileen, Vin and Rosaleen, the school staff and Joseph a student from the Parish the day would not have been possible. Many thanks, it was a real team effort.
Back at the office two of our volunteers Charlotte and Gemma have been busy putting the weaves together. They will form a hanging for each school which will be displayed in their school as a reminder of thier work for Climate Justice, their work with CAFOD and their creativity.
We are holding two more days in Wythenshawe and one in Chester in the near future.
We’re just praying for sunshine!!!

Friday July 8th CAFOD Mile
Holy Family School Sale

Saturday July 9thJustice and Peace Walk: Nantwich Circular
A five mile circular walk including a CAFOD Mile.
From the car park behind the “Black Lion” Welsh Road Nantwich CW5 5ED.
Lunch at the” Acton Star”.
For details contact Joan Sharples, Justice and Peace Co-ordinator
Tel: 01270 620584 or email:joansharples620@btinternet.com

Sunday July 10th CAFOD Fun Mile and Strawberry Tea at The Emmaus Centre Chester Catholic High School, Chester CH4 7HS 2.00-4.30pm

Saturday July 16thStrawberryTea and CAFOD Mile St Mary’s Crewe

Shrewsbury Event relay event carrying water between Churches.
Date and time to be confirmed

For further information please contact:

Contact Sue or Liz : 01244 677594/679270

or email: shrewsbury@cafod.org.uk

Hi we’re Charlotte and Gemma, two sixthform students from Ellesmere Port Catholic High School, who have been volunteering for CAFOD since October.

“At the moment I study textiles, philosophy&ethics, maths and further maths in sixthform. After the upcoming exams hopefully I will achieve the grades I need to accept my offer from the University of York to study maths and philosophy, which I very much look forward to!” Gemma
“Currently, I am studying textiles, French and English in sixthform. Next year I’ll be going to Mid-Cheshire College to complete a foundation diploma in art and design, which will then prepare me to study fashion and textiles at university, something that I immensely enjoy.” Charlotte

Every Wednesday afternoon we come and help out in the Shrewsbury CAFOD office in Chester, in any way we are needed. Sometimes we get to help out with some really exciting projects for example, the Alternative Christmas Market in St John’s Church, Chester. Before the day we planned everything for the event from designing the stall to attract customers to making some posters to educate people about CAFOD’s work. We also made use of our textiles skills by making some stockings to put around the display. On the night there was a clear sense that Christmas was around the corner with people singing carols and doing their bit for the less fortunate, including us selling some CAFOD World Gifts in our reindeer antlers! Some of the other tasks we have undertaken during our time here at the CAFOD office include making some fun work sheets for primary school kids, making a large cross for display out of children’s work and creating an orienteering activity based on the life of Oscar Romero. Lots of the time we also did some general office work such as laminating, stocktaking, etc. But it doesn’t matter how we help out it’s still good to know we are making a difference; it’s all just as fun – well, maybe the Christmas Market was a little bit more interesting!

Soon we will be off to uni and college, but volunteering for CAFOD has been the most rewarding opportunity of our time in sixthform. And thanks to Sue and Liz, this has been an amazing experience that we’re sure we will never forget. We would like to thank Sue and Liz as they have been so friendly and kind, and made our time here so enjoyable. Spending time here is something which we will truly miss, but we will of course come back to visit, and hopefully still remain active in the CAFOD community!

Come and join us for a post- Christmas outing on December 27th at 11.00am.
You choose your distance:
7km full course
5.5 km Medium
1.5km Short
For further details see

http://www.stalbanmacc.org.uk/index_files/Bollfunrun.html

or contact
S.Keith Taylor 01625 429 915
email: SKeithtayl@aol.com

We hope to raise £2,000 for water Projects in Developing Countries.

Telford’s CAFOD Support Group worked together with the Catholic Women’s League to produce a concert by The Telford Mixed Voice Ensemble. It was a wonderful concert and raised £344 for CAFOD.
Well done to Ian and the team.