The Bereavement Care group will be open as usual in the church hall this Wednesday 7th July. Bridget and the team will welcome you with a cup of tea or coffee and friendly ear so you can chat freely about your loved ones who are no longer with us. The group will meet right after 10am mass until 12 noon. This is only the second time we have been able to meet face to face since the lockdown. Please pop along and meet the team. Everyone is welcome.
I cannot believe a month has gone by, but it has, and next weekend the SVP shop will be open for business again. We have listened to your requests and have statues of St Anthony, St Jude and the Holy Family. Also by request, we have more candles with various designs and a selection of religious greetings cards. That’s just a few things there to whet your appetite and there is so much more. We look forward to seeing you! If there is anything you are looking for, please do let us know and we will try our best to get it for you.
Since starting the SVP at St Gregory’s, we have had at our core visiting the housebound, sick and lonely people in our parish and the community. The SVP visits people in their homes on a one-to-one basis. During the pandemic, due to lockdown and many of our friends shielding, we reverted to phone calls. While it kept us in touch, it was not the same as talking face-to-face.
I am happy to say we can now resume visits, so long as we stick to the rule of six, or meet in the garden if it is a nice day.
This week we, the B-Attitudes, supported by volunteers from HSBC, did some gardening around the statue of Our Lady in the front garden of the church. All the weeds around it have been removed and replaced with beautiful white flowers and an arch will eventually cover the top of the statue to reduce damage from the rain.
As you can see from the photos, we worked really hard in the scorching sun. Thank you to everyone who supported us.
Moved by the plight of refugees, members of the SVP volunteer with the Jesuit Refugee Service to visit people detained at the immigration removal centres near Heathrow airport. After training in January 2019, we began visiting inmates at the Harmondsworth and Colnbrook facilities. Up to 1,000 men are held here, often for weeks, months or even years while courts consider their claims for asylum. When they are bailed, they’re sent into communities with little or no support. They are often traumatised by war and trafficking. Our job is to visit them, see them as fellow human beings and accompany them on their difficult and lonely journey.