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St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church - Ansdell | |
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"JoKers" 2008/2009 Review
We re-started on Thursday 20th September and began as we mean to go on by helping others. The Bag Pack in Booth’s on Saturday 6th October raised £317 and £200 was given to Brian House at our next meeting – October 18th. A further £100 was given to St Bedes School for mini-bus maintenance.
On November 1st we walked through the lights, again and on November 15th we enjoyed a bonfire party (two birthday celebrations at the same time!).
November 25th was National Youth Sunday and we engaged Sunday Morning Parish mass with our take on how we will change the World. We challenged the myth of Lytham Loot – or the use of it! We talked about pockets of poverty here on our doorstep, the bullying that does go on – not in schools but in homes and communities, the domestic violence and alcoholism that hides behind the door, the financial success that is based in the drug culture that is beside us all.
On December 14th we went Carol singing for two local nursing homes before going back to the Hall for our Christmas Disco.
Most Winter Thursday evenings have seen us 'chilling out' in the Hall.
The week before St. Valentine's Day we made cards. Nicola Thompson generously offered her advice, materials and most everything else to support the evening.
Friday February 22nd at 7.00pm saw Jokers deliver Stations of the Cross for the Parish. They lead us around the Stations with slow, clear and very respectful prayers.
After Easter we made a return
visit to the Blackpool
Gateway
Climbing Towers
(April 10th).
This was
followed by a weekend retreat to Colomendy in North Wales (April 11th-14th).
The
next outing was
an evening of Ten Pin
Bowling followed by
several meetings preparing decorations for the Lytham Club Day Float.
Club day itself dawned fine and dry on June 28th and the float was awarded a Second in
Class - pretty good for a first entry.(
See the Pictures )
Starting in
September, Colin Ballard took over the organisational role in the running of the
youth club. Colin has a vast experience of working with young people and we
welcomed him on board as Chief 'Joker'. He is ably supported by the existing
youth team.
Jokers 'new' year got off to a busy start with
a variety of activities in an attempt to appeal to the wide audience of young
people who attend.
We often have in excess of 25 young people
at a meeting.
The activities have
included an Art Workshop (Glass decorating) and a Drama evening presented
by members of the Anonymous Players.
A major project was 'Walking in the lights
of God'. On a balmy Thursday evening in October 25 Jokers covered the 8 kms of Blackpool Prom
to raise money for charity.
With lots of outside help and support (giving money) we raised over £300 for
others. (
See the Pictures )
Next in line was a Christmas Card and Gift Box
Workshop followed by the making of edible goodies for the gift boxes. (
See the Pictures )
National Youth Sunday was the 26th
November and Jokers took an 'active' part in that special Sunday morning Mass.
They were congratulated by many of the congregation for the way they presented a
very meaningful and thought provoking celebration. The theme was 'Our Planet'
and how can we better look after it by 'living simply'.
Before Christmas we rehearsed our vocal skills in readiness
for carol singing at Fairhaven Court on Dec 15th (
See the Pictures )
The carol singing was followed by our Christmas Party and
Disco in the Hall.
Meeting again in the New Year we established a contract for members. Monsignor Branson gave a talk and showed photos about his projects in India and Sri Lanka before receiving a cheque for £50 (money raised by the Illuminations walk).
A cheque for £100 (also from the Illuminations walk) was
presented to Sylvia Preston on behalf of CAFOD. (
See the Pictures )
And then the big one - over the weekend of February 16th -18th, 21 Jokers plus
carers and drivers went to Castlerigg Manor for a long weekend.
Self catering accommodation with visits to a slate mine, outdoor pursuits
centre, pencil factory and shopping - oh! and reflection time for self and
others.
(
Read the full story )
(
See the Pictures )
Prior to Easter, Jokers prepared for and then on March 9th presented the Youth
Stations of the Cross in church.
The first meeting after Easter on April 19th was a Cheese and Wine / Pizza and
Pop evening in aid of Mgr Joe Branson's charity.
On his earlier visit to the Parish Mgr Joe explained about the work he is doing
to support young people's training in carpentry in India and the 'Street Kids of
Ansdell' (Jokers) volunteered to raise the money to pay for tools for the
Indian kids to be able to work after training.
The whole parish, who had wholeheartedly supported this, were invited to an
evening of entertainment at the end of which, Mgr Joe and Fr Harry were there to
receive a cheque for £3000 to send to India. The total raised so far
is over £3,200. (
See the Pictures )
Various activities took place on the Thursdays during the
remainder of the term including a film night and the Umbrellas for Peace project
(for the inspiration for this see the following site
Lamb Umbrellas for Peace
). In addition we had short meetings on alternate Sundays following the 5.05 pm
youth Mass.
Starting in January 2005
the Youth Club was
split into Junior and Senior groups due to the numbers then attending.
However, the number of people attending the
Senior youth club reduced significantly over the year and starting in
Autumn 2005 the youth clubs merged.
During
the autumn we welcomed back Mrs. Samantha Culpan and her wonderful guide dogs.
We
presented her with a cheque for £150 for The Guide Dogs for the Blind
Association (
See the Picture ).
They have
expressed their sincere gratitude.
The Bag Pack at Booth’s in September raised a magnificent £372.71 for our club funds. Well done everyone.
In December –
we decorated Christmas tiles which were sold to raise
funds for CAFOD. I am delighted to say that these raised a total of £53.
Well done to you all.
Added to this, we sold copies of a Family Christmas Quiz at £1 each also for
CAFOD and this raised an amazing £161.
All in all our
Christmas effort for CAFOD has raised £214 .. WONDERFUL!! You are making a
difference.
Also in December the Senior Group had a Christmas
Outing to the MEGABOWL, Preston (
See the Pictures )
After Christmas, we tried our hands at bell ringing in the church tower and discovered there is much
more to this ancient art than we had realised.
Our next project was to decorate plant pots using
mosaic tiles and shells. These were subsequently planted with Primulas to herald
the Spring.
To accompany these floral offerings, we made
Valentine’s Day hearts out of felt. Hand stitched, filled with lavender and
finished with a loop and bow these should have made their lucky recipients very
pleased indeed.
Our Lenten project, the Stations of the Cross garden, has been highly acclaimed
by the parishioners of St. Joseph's.
Lots of messages of congratulations have been received and in particular some
lovely letters expressing admiration for what you have achieved.
The Easter Garden with all its little crosses looked splendid in church.
Well done all of you.
Point to this web site to show off your handiwork to your families, friends and
teachers. See the Pictures
:-
Stations 2006
After
Easter we made items with an England theme to raise money for the Parish Garden
Party.
This was followed by a Karaoke evening and much fun was had with a
Tie-Dying night.
The last meeting before the Summer
break ended on a high note for 18 of our young members. We were invited to the
Blackpool Gateway
Climbing Towers
and were blessed with ideal weather
conditions in which to climb the 20 metre high towers.
Once again our thanks to St.
Bede’s who kindly let us use the school mini-bus for the evening.
See the Pictures
:- ClimbingTowers 2006 ......
.
The last combined
meeting of both Junior and Senior members was on January 13th 2005 when we
recommenced after the Christmas break.
See the Pictures :-
New Year 2005 ......
.
Events
the Seniors have
enjoyed included
the trip to Castlerigg Manor in Keswick
during January.
We
were blessed with blue skies and sunshine, more food than we could possibly eat
and plenty of activities to keep us busy.
See the Pictures :-
Castlerigg Weekend 2005 ......
.
A trip to the
Premier Bowl in Blackpool
for an evening of Ten Pin Bowling followed.
See the Pictures
:-
Premier Bowl 2005 ......
.
We scaled some dizzy heights on a night at
the Manchester Climbing Centre. A good night was had by all.
St. Bede's kindly lent us their
mini-bus for the evening which meant we could all travel together as a group.
See the Pictures
:- MCC 2005 ......
.
We had a taste of life in the fast lane
when we visited Karting 2000. The track was ours exclusively for an hour and
provided plenty of thrilling racing.
Now, it’s not that I am biased you
understand, but I was delighted when the overall champion was a female! Well
done Vanessa.
Who says women can’t drive? (Men
presumably).
See the Pictures
:- Karting 2005 ......
.
Events for the
Juniors included a fascinating talk in
January by Mr. Brian Clarke about his escapades during
the second world war.
In February Mrs. Samantha Culpan and her family brought
her guide dogs, Worthy and Inga, to show us what valuable work they do for the
blind.
Events also included 'Preparing the Way' Lenten
preparations. This involved an art workshop where our junior section produced
their own stations of the cross and displayed them in church. They then prepared
and enacted the Stations of the Cross in a special youth liturgy to which
parents and friends were invited.
Professional Linedance teacher Julie Carr introduced the
junior 'Joe-kers' to a bit of 'Bootscootin' after the Easter break.
See the Pictures
:-
Line Dance 2005 ......
.
This was followed by a Puppet Theatre Workshop presented by Dragonmouth puppets.
Prior to the summer recess the Junior members
entertained the youth club from Our Lady Star of the Sea to a sports evening and
B-B-Q.
Thirty three young people participated in the mini
games and the competition was fierce.
See the Pictures
:-
Games 2005 ......
.
T-shirt painting was the topic for the juniors at the end of
June and what a brilliant job they did.
Pity we forgot the camera!
Wonderfully creative talent produced some fantastic original
artwork good enough to wear and go home in.
The finale of the junior summer programme was a trip to Premier Bowl in
Blackpool for an evening of Ten Pin Bowling.
Twenty six budding bowlers came along, the majority in the mini-bus
(courtesy of St. Bede’s) and the rest in convoy.
Boy, the singing in the mini-bus on the way home went off the decibel
scale and could be heard by the following cars!
They are not a shy and retiring lot our younger members! Definitely ear
plugs for us oldies next time.
We have also :-
Walked through Blackpool Illuminations raising £475, Bag-packed raising £364 for club funds, Bag-packed raising £375 for Faith and Light's trip to Lourdes.
Sold hand-made Christmas Gifts for CAFOD raising £324 which allowed us to purchase a selection of items from the World Gifts catalogue.
Helped man the youth club ‘tissue’ stall at St. Joseph’s summer fair which together with the ‘Pick football team’ game raised a very creditable £77.
Finally the Great Smartie Challenge realised a grand total of £143.53.
We
hope to present this to Mrs. Samantha Culpan from the Guide Dogs for the Blind
Association early in the autumn.
We have :-
Skated, Bowled, Fired Arrows, Perused Football History,
Walked through Blackpool Illuminations raising £485, Bag-packed raising £343,
Painted and sold pebbles for CAFOD raising £46, Stall at Summer Fair raising £39.
We have :-
Painted, Played, Prayed, Chased, Chattered, Created, Decorated,
Disco-ed, Laughed, been manicured, pedicured and visited ..
We have :-
Played Badminton, Darts, Golf, Pool, Table-tennis;
Listened to Guest Speakers; Cooked, munched, drank and …..
..…… we are doing it all again ... see programme above.
The Bowling Trip (June 2003)
The Archery Trip (July 2003)
The Skating Trip (August 2003)
In the early months of 2003 we challenged the young people in the parish to design a logo, using the theme "St. Joseph's - Building one family", to provide this site (and other Parish publications, like the weekly bulletin) with a unique identification, and they rose to the challenge submitting many wonderful designs, which you can see here.
Current events involving young people are featured on the News page of this site.
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