Hi everyone!
I hope you are all well and ready to start Lent this year. It is very early I must admit, with Easter being at the end of March – it doesn’t seem long since last year. This year I am joining Elaine in her annual resolution to give up chocolate for Lent after a couple of years giving up fizzy drinks. We had an interesting homily from Fr James, when he offered advice to us about giving up. He suggested that if we are giving up something we will then take up again like nothing has happened from Easter Sunday, then we shouldn’t do this and opt for something else. It certainly provoked a lot of thought about that was acceptable to give up. To be honest, I suppose I wasn’t sure what to give up and so just picked from a list of things. Fr James said it should cause us some suffering (which I think it will, chocolate often features in community nights for a start!) But ultimately, he said that Lent is an ideal time to perhaps take up or re-incorporate prayer and to set aside time to do this. Recently, my regular use of the Office for independent prayer has slipped slightly, so I’m hoping to take this back up again. I am also hoping to complete the third Lent for Everyone book focussing on the Gospel of Luke. I’ve read Matthew and Mark over the last 2 years and am hoping to repeat the cycle successfully this year. So fingers crossed I can start as I mean to go on.
Also, a word about Sundays in Lent – apparently not counting Sundays during Lent is something members of the team have been brought up to do as part of the season. This is OK because of Sunday being the Sabbath day and because including Sundays in Lent makes it 46 days long. But I suppose it’s up to opinion as to whether you follow this or not. Personally, I think it would be a shame to not include Sundays – I don’t see how it would help and would only make the whole process harder. So I am choosing to include Sundays, as I have every year. Having been involved in many a debate around this issue, it’s good to receive some answers at last!
I’m very aware that this blog covers 24 days, so please bear with me!
You will be pleased to hear the snow has cleared since I wrote my last blog. Ian, Michael and I walked through the snow to Canvey Mass with Jon, Sara and Aiden. Aiden loved the snow, really really enjoyed it and the boys helped him to make a snowman, whilst I stayed out of the cold. That afternoon was also one where I had to watch what I was saying. Ian and Michael were watching the Chelsea v Arsenal match, and things were getting pretty heated! Thankfully they had calmed down in time for pudding, which I had helped Jon create (sticky toffee pudding – very nice indeed. The rest of the team definitely missed out!)
The next day involved an anxious wait to discover whether the rest of the team would be able to return to the White House. Thankfully, the roads were not too bad, meaning we could be reunited for community day. This was, for me, followed by 2 days of St Thomas More Year 8 retreats. This was the first boys school I had worked with, and the young people were great, despite having to remind them cushions were for sitting on at times! I was interested to find out how they would approach the theme of love and the activities, but I was surprised that they really engaged and tended to enjoy themselves a lot.
In between these two retreats, the Walsingham House team headed to London. Those who had not worked went on a day trip round London, which included M&M world and a pre-service in Christian Aid offices, whilst the rest of us met at Waterloo to travel together to Somerset House. We were given wrist bands on entering Somerset House and found many people gathered around talking and trying desperately to keep warm. Olivia and I temporarily lost the rest of the team in the dark, but this was resolved when Jon held up Aish’s bright yellow satchel so we could navigate through the crowd. What a relief! The launch began, and we were soon listening to videos and speeches by well known people in support of the campaign Enough Food for Everyone If. If you haven’t heard about this, then either you are not on my facebook or twitter, or I haven’t been promoting this properly. Charities including Tearfund joined with CAFOD to mark the start of this campaign, with many events scheduled to happen throughout the year. There will be a big focus on the G8 summit in London during June. Celebrities who spoke out included Ginny Weasley from Harry Potter and Bill Nighy. There were some brilliant films and animations as well, explaining more about the campaign which were projected onto Somerset House providing a 3D effect. There was also a campagin song performed by a choir at the end, which was brilliant. Unfortunately, our toes were all beginning to stick together with cold by this point, but what happened next was definitely worth it. We were standing talking to each other, having met up with Tanya from CAFOD when Ian told Aisling (quite calmly as if nothing was happening) that Bill Nighy was nearby. Of course we walked up to Bill very maturely and calmly and asked him for a photo…! We had two, one normal photo and one pose suggested by Bill himself (which I asked young people to imitate during a social justice session on retreat – brilliant!) I immediately text a lot of people I knew and was dismayed to receive no replies at all! I’m not sure that people knew who Bill Nighy was – when I tried to use this as a fact on retreat that week it backfired because nobody knew. Just to re-cap – he is the guy in Love Actually who sings the Christmas song, he is also in Harry Potter! Look him up now if you don’t know! My main excitement of course was that he works with Colin Firth!
Retreat work this half term has been pretty busy, but next half term looks even busier, which is great! Aside from the Year 8 retreats, I have been part of 3 Year 10 retreats, a Year 9 and two confirmation retreats. The Year 10 days were my first and I always really enjoy taking part in a programme for the first time. I realised it was similar to the residential but very condensed. The best part was the opportunity for discussion with the girls in my group around being silent and still and the boat challenge. Some of my groups found it more difficult than others to silent, which was definitely clear from their enthusiasm for everything. The boat challenge produced varying results, but was always very amusing to watch. Joe was aiming for a whitewash until Olivia’s group beat his on the last retreat – well done! Our Year 9 retreat saw the return of Palmer’s Academy for the day. Once again, the staff and pupils were very enthusiastic! There was also a birthday, and the team were delighted to witness the birthday boy’s dancing skills and also receive a slice of cake. Unfortunately, I had been struggling with a sore throat during these days, which made me feel like I was croaking at my groups a lot. But they didn’t seem to mind, thankfully.
The confirmation retreats were brilliant. The first was a visit to the house from Shoeburyness and Saffron Walden parishes. Why was I so excited by this??? Well, my deanery were finally represented at Walsingham House this year by 4 lovely Saffron Walden confirmation candidates and Trish from the Deanery Committee. I was also working with Ollie in a group at long last. We had both eagerly visited the house last year to help out, and Ollie came back for the first time with our new team. He was absolutely brilliant, a great support, really fun to be around and he also created his own prayer station! I had been in charge of the Ark for the second time and absolutely loved creating new prayer stations. My station about the footprints prayer was a hit (Leighton definitely enjoyed it as much as the young people) and they also commented on my Powerpoint presentation, which was a first and definitely won’t be a last. We then had an epic talent show – catechists teamed up to perform Sister Act, one young person chopped wood, Ollie danced so hard he had to recover afterwards, and Jade sang. My group all took part, which was lovely to see, especially as there were only 19 in the whole group. The passion and enthusiasm from the catechists, particularly Charlotte, was brilliant to see. At the end, all participants were awarded a medal and the top 3 received cups. What a brilliant celebration of talents. I was also able to lead a night prayer based on the musical SHREK after gaining such inspiration from the play. I was so excited, but managed to resist the temptation to include my Shrek ears as a prop.
Outreach on Saturday was my first experience of a large group. 60 or so young people joined us in Goodmayes parish hall for the day. My small group was 17, Joe had 26 and Louis the rest. It was great to work with Louis again, and with such a lively bunch. Despite my sore throat, I tried to speak to as many as possible, and found many of the girls had been on retreat with their school in the previous two weeks. Double Walsingham House, how very lucky they are! I led my CAFOD workshop, this time including a chance to write a prayer for an area of the world on a specific issue and place the post it on an area of the map. The finished product looked brilliant and provoked a lot of discussion. Many of the young people also signed up to the Hungry for Change campaign and heard about the London launch. My group, although the smallest, proved victorious in Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and Mass included a guitar playing priest!
Community wise, we have been very busy, holding two nights each week whilst day retreats have been happening. The second night is optional, but has proved successful. We’ve also had a fair few outings together, including a carvery visit. I missed Canvey karaoke night, but made up for this joining Jade, Aish, Michael and Joe for an evening at Las Iguanas at Lakeside. Predictably, Jade was an amazing singer once more, singing with a work mate from her previous job and also her boyfriend. Michael and Joe did a great job of Arctic Monkeys, and (against my better judgement purely to support Aish) we got up to sing Eternal Flame. All except Jade, who for some reason decided to film this… Help us! The night also included Aish and I wandering in the dark trying to find the station and failing. Thankfully, Joe hosted us for the night, where I made friends with his cat Rafferty. This Sunday just gone I went against many of my principles and much of my better judgement in honour of Olivia’s 21st. We went to Envy in Basildon. Having not been in a club since 2007, I was a bit bewildered, but thankfully the team were there and I also found moral support from Idriss who also isn’t the greatest club fan. It was great being together as a team though, now I just need to use these next 3 months to prepare myself for the next clubbing outing in May. We stayed at Aisling’s this time where I also made friends with her cat. I’ve decided I will now attempt to make friends with all the teams’ cats by the end of the year.
Olivia’s birthday celebrations continued last night when we joined together to party in Walsingham House. I started the evening with prayer in the chapel, on the theme of Olivia. We had a few prayer stations, her birthday scripture (as there is apparently a website which gives a scripture for each day of the year) and a prayer I wrote. I think it was quite emotional, and even though Olivia may have been slightly embarrassed, she told me she enjoyed it. After this we headed to the Ark, where Jade’s party planning skills had once again provided amazing results. Olivia had a throne (courtesy of the Sammon Room and some royal wedding cushions). She received 21 kisses, enjoyed some crazy dancing, 50s music and a screening of Grease. She hadn’t watched the whole thing before, but enjoyed it, thankfully, sporting the handy prop of my Pink Lady jacket (which matched the cake skillfully made my Aish). Karaoke featured in this film too, but I am definitely not a karaoke expert! I was also relieved to see she liked my card! The presents were great, a 21 key, a glass and a Sweep Dem Gally t-shirt (as we had hoped to have a gust appearance at the club on Sunday). We all really enjoyed the evening, so it was definitely another successful birthday. We also celebrated Sara Cornwall’s birthday with a journey round the world. I created a tapas dish, and everyone else created a dish from another country. This was followed by an amusing game of charades – Joe forced Jade to re-enact “A blank of wood with a nail in it”. I think we need to play more charades with Joe this year! Speaking of Joe, I beat him in a game of pool! We drew 1:1 in the end, after a drink at the Haystack pub. The music was definitely an eclectic mix though, with Rupert the Bear being one of the songs playing!
This week there are two retreats. One Year 11 retreat, which I am not working and the Mystery Weekend for Years 10 to Sixth Form. I am joining the Prep team this week, ensuring everything is ready for the weekend. I’m sure this will be a great success as the Advent Retreat was, and can’t wait to lead and take part in some of the sessions. The Trinity workshops are no longer as scary as they first seemed, I don’t have as major flashbacks to the dreaded essay… This is definitely a relief! After Half Term we have a busy 5 weeks, with most of the team working together during retreats, with many standing in as Retreat fairies to help with the set up and running of retreats. We also have the Easter Lourdes pre-trip meeting… it’s not long now until my first Lourdes experience! Wow. I was discussing this at Youth Mass last week, where I also met a young person from my first small group. I’m just wondering what the fancy dress theme for Lourdes will be… my vote is Grease or superheroes, as I have an outfit for both of these, although I think I will probably be overruled!
Have a great Half Term everyone, thanks for reading!
Katharine xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
katharinewalsinghamhouseblog 