Saint Vincent De Paul in our Parish
The parish has two SVP Conferences: St Mary’s and Holy Name. People living in the area of the former Assumption parish may be visited by either conference.
St Mary’s SVP is fortunate in having a dozen or so active members – though more are always needed. Our core work is just visiting people in any kind of need, including those people who may see few if any other visitors. We do visits each week though it is not necessary to commit to more than you feel able to. An important part of belonging to the SVP is the friendship and support we offer to one another – there are meetings at church every other Thursday at which we discuss the visits we have made, pray and have fun! Some of our members are also Eucharistic Ministers and readers. We visit people both in their own homes, in care homes and in hospital. Thanks to the generosity of parishioners and our own collections we are able to provide financial assistance where required, e.g. with the cost of furniture, basic essentials and school uniforms. Each summer we host an afternoon tea party for our senior parishioners. The SVP is an international organization and we are “twinned” with four conferences in India to which we send regular financial support.
Do please consider whether you would like to join the SVP. You will be very welcome. DBS checks and references are required
Holy Name SVP Conference
Holy Name Conference of the SVP meets most Tuesday evenings either at 8 p.m., after 7.30 p.m. Mass, or at 7.30 if there is no Mass.
Our Conference has 10 members at the moment but we would be delighted to welcome anyone interested in joining us – please get in touch through the Parish office at Holy Name. We think that we are a friendly group and we know that we all benefit from the opportunity to meet to pray together and from the grace of being invited to share in the lives of those whom we visit. Our main “work” involves visiting parishioners i.e. anyone living within the old Holy Name Parish area who wants some support. We visit a number of older people and some younger people and families. We try to provide or supplement the type of help which families offer to one another. Sometimes this help may be financial, at other times it may just be popping in for a chat, doing some shopping or providing a lift to Mass or to a hospital appointment. We also try to signpost people towards other sources of assistance. We can request furniture e.g. when people move into a new house or need to replace items. We have obtained places for children to attend the SVP Summer camp and enabled families to benefit from SVP family holiday provision.
In liaison with the SVP group at St Mary’s we would be delighted to visit or offer help to anyone in the Assumption area.
We treat all requests for help in confidence and all members have to receive CRB clearance before they can go on visits. We would suggest that initial requests for a visit to talk about how we can help are made through the Parish office.
We are grateful that we receive fantastic financial support from parishioners which enables us to carry out our role.
