St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club
The club is Approved by the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster; Affiliated to the Ramblers Association
Programme of Events December 2008 to February 2009
Greetings Ramblers,
This is a special version of the Newsletter available to all on the internet. Paid up members can see the full newsletter including ramble details (but not addresses or telephone numbers) online by keying their unique access code. Non members can get a full copy of the current programme and a welcome booklet by e mailing their postal address to one of the current joint membership secretaries - Elizabeth Furlong elizabeth@stfrancisramblers.org.uk or Francis O'Sullivan francis@stfrancisramblers.org.uk. Please note that the welcome pack does not lend itself to e mailing so a postal address is essential.
News, Views and items of interest
Sunday 14th December (Landranger Map 177) Leader: Paul Connolly
MEET: Angel Station (Northern Line Zone 1 and lots of bus routes) for 1130 start. (There is Mass at 1030 at St John’s, Duncan Terrace, N1 – less than 5 minutes’ walk from Angel.)
LUNCH:Eleanor Arms, Old Ford Road, E3. Very friendly welcome, but no food. There is an outside area if you want
to eat your own. Plenty of places at the start, or near the lunch stop, where you can buy a sandwich. Don’t
forget there is the Christmas social at the end.
TEA: will be the famous Christmas Social at The Royal Oak, 44 Tabard Street, London SE1. The ramble will be 9 miles finishing in SE1 to arrive at the Royal Oak at about 4.30pm. The buffet will be served at about 5 30 pm. The charge for the buffet is £8.00 per head which must be paid be 7th December. We need to confirm final numbers for catering by 7th December, so please send cheque or postal order payable to St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club, to our Treasurer Gillian McLauchlan, 64 Pankhurst House, Du Cane Road, London W12 0UL to reach her by 7th December or see other committee members on the walks who will happily take cash or cheques. The Royal Oak is only three minutes walk away from Borough Station (Northern Line), and ten minutes’ walk from London Bridge. Also served by bus routes P3, 21, 35, 40 and 133 – alight at Borough Station. Items for raffle will be gratefully received.
Monday 15 December: 6 30 pm St Mary Moorfields Church, 4-5 Eldon Street
Parish Advent Meditation with Carols In the Church. Afterwards drinks at the
nearby Red Lion .
NB This is not specifically a club event but we are invited to take part in it as a happy pre Christmas parish event.
Saturday 20 December: Please book in advance for Christmas Dinner at Lowiczanka Polish Restaurant near Ravenscourt Park tube station.
The Polish Centre, 246 King Street, London W6 (very close to Ravenscourt Park Underground Station). Please arrive in time to be seated at 7 pm. NB You will need to have booked in advance and chosen what you want to eat from either Menu 1, 2 or 3 attached to this programme at Page 10. You must choose everything from one menu and cannot take one thing from one menu and one from another. The price of Menu 1 will be £21.50, Menu 2 will be £26.50 and Menu 3 will be 29.50, including the compulsory cover charge of £2. The cost includes a glass of wine or vodka and there will be live music in the restaurant. Please contact Carol Anley
E Mail: carolanley@hotmail.com) by 10th December - tell her your choice of food and send £5 deposit (cheques payable to Carol Anley). The restaurant really must know what we are ordering by 10th December at latest
Monday 22nd December 2008 1 00 pm. Christmas Lunch at St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Road, Brentford, Middlesex (few minutes walk from Brentford Station; 10 minutes by E2 bus (direction: Brentford) from Northfields Piccadilly Line station)
£14.00 per adult (with group discount). Friends and family welcome. Please bring your own wine etc – corkage £1.50 per bottle
To book: You will need to select from menu at the end of this newsletter headed "Christmas at Open House " and return completed order form with £5 non-refundable deposit to: Maureen Furlong,
Possibility of short stroll afterwards for those who wish, weather and daylight permitting.
Further details, travel etc from Maureen Furlong – E Mail marysia1883@yahoo.co.uk.
Saturday 17th January. New Year Party at St Mary Moorfields. The party will be at St Mary Moorfields Church Hall from 7 pm onwards, following Mass in the Church which will be at 6 pm (for the benefit of new members St Mary Moorfields is at 4-5 Eldon Street which is immediately outside Liverpool Street Station - carry on past Platform 1 and up the ramp into Eldon Street). Bring food to share and your choice of drink and pay £4 on entry. Prizes for the raffle will be gratefully received. Our regular friendly disco will be provided by "Canute" with soft music for the first hour and music to dance to later. Please bring your family and friends and get the social side of the rambling year off to a good start.
Report from the Annual General Meeting: The AGM was held on 4 October. In response to one of the comments received when we asked members for opinions earlier this year this is a brief summary of what was decided: The AGM, which was held on the Feast of St Francis and attended by 32 members, elected a committee to run the club for the next year (details on page 8; agreed the statement of accounts (page 9), agreed to an increase in annual membership to £7 from membership year 2009-2010 and agreed that the club should apply for membership of the Holiday Fellowship (see next page below). The AGM also agreed that in accordance with the requirements of our insurance policy it should be the stated policy of the club that "St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club will endeavour to ensure that no child or vulnerable adult is left in the company of a lone adult on a ramble or at a club event". This is recorded in the minutes of the AGM and will be a standard item in the newsletter from now on.
Membership contributions: Membership contributions for 2008-09 became due in October so if you have not renewed already please do so today. It is still £5 for this year but next year will go up to £7 following a decision of this year’s AGM. So to avoid further expense in future years why not take out life membership. It is only £100 now but will be £140 from October 2009 (£9 annual and £180 for life for members resident overseas). Existing members or anyone wishing to join the club should send a cheque for £5 (or £100 for life membership) payable to St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club to the Treasurer, Gillian McLauchlan.
Welcome to New members: A hearty welcome to the following who have become fully paid up members since the last programme: John Casey of Abbey Wood, Paul Duff of Sutton, Odile Koh of London NW11, , John Murphy of Erith, Kent, Mary Murphy of Erith, Kent, Kevin McNamara of Beckenham, Kent and a huge welcome back to Diana Fox of Egham, Surrey.
Welcome to Life Membership to Jim and Alice Kennedy, the first to become life members since the new Life Membership scheme was introduced last year.
Special Request to Members for Help Publicising the Club: We have two new membership secretaries this year so it is important that our publicity with their details is made available as soon and as widely as possible. Some members have already kindly put up our new poster in Churches that they visit. A copy was enclosed with paper copy of the Winter newsletter and we are asking a special favour that every member check whether their parish has a poster with previous contact details shown on its notice board. If it does then please replace it with the new one enclosed. If it does not then please please please ask your parish priest for permission to put one up. It is very rarely that our request is refused and in the last year several priests asked for a second copy of the notice and several have also given us a mention in the parish newsletter. Incidentally I have now acquired a laminator so if you want your parish to have a posh laminated notice let me know and I will be delighted to let you have one or more.
Obituary: We were sorry to hear of the death of Barbara Deubzer who put East Grinstead back on the club map in the late 1980s and generously entertained us to tea many times at the end of East Grinstead walks in the 1990s. The walk in this programme on 25th January 2009 was originally one of Barbara’s walks which first appeared in our programme in 1992.
When joining us on a walk please ensure you bring your Network cards or Gold cards so that you can get the 1/3rd off full fares for yourself and up to three guests traveling with you. You can also get £1.90 off all zone travel cards even if purchased at underground stations. Senior Railcard holders can also get the reduction on train fares but only for themselves.
on't forget Sunday train services can be affected by engineering works eg trains from Charing Cross are sometimes diverted to begin from Cannon Street or Victoria. Information on these can be obtained by calling 08457 484950 or see National Rail Website at www.nationalrail.com
It is the policy of St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club to endeavour to ensure that no child or vulnerable adult is left in the company of a lone adult on a ramble or at a club event.
Future Dates for Your Diary
Tuesday 17 March 2009 7.00 pm St Mary Moorfields Church, 4-5 Eldon Street
St Patrick's Day Mass 7.00pm Mass for St Patrick followed by reception in the Hall
NB This is not specifically a club event but we are invited to take part in
it as a happy parish event.
Tuesday 7 April 2009 6.30pm St Mary Moorfields Church, 4-5 Eldon Street
Lenten Meditation with soloist. Tea/Coffee Light Refreshments at the nearby
Costa Coffee/Tea Bar with modern large lounge area.
NB Like the Advent and St Patrick’s Day items above this is not specifically a club event but we are invited to take part in it as a parish lenten event.
Saturday 11th April 2009
Worth Abbey are staging a Passion Play on Holy Saturday 11th April 2009. It will start about 3pm and will be mostly outdoors whatever the weather. Further information will be available early next year and will be in the next club programme. This event is one of a number of events celebrating Worth's 50th anniversary.
Sunday 10th or 17th May 2009 - Day of Recollection. Details and chosen date will be in next programme but please keep both dates free for now.
Sunday 5th July to Saturday 11th July 2009.
Following the event which was much enjoyed by all who went on it in 2008 Ushaw College's Holiday/Pilgrimage' Journeying with the Northern Saints is planned again for 2009: The pilgrimage will take place from Sunday 5th to Saturday 11th July next year. Visiting Lindisfame, Farne Islands, the ruins of Rievaulx and Mount Grace Priory, Durham Cathedral, Jarrow and Monkwearmouth. Cost is £460 which includes meals, coach transport and entrance fees (but not the boat trip to the Farne Islands). It is possible to stay at the College before and after the pilgrimage.
Details and application form from Course Administrator, Ushaw College, Durham, DH7 9RH. 0191 373 8517
EMail: courses@ushaw.ac.uk website www.ushaw.ac.uk
Tuesday 1st to Friday 11th September 2009:
Dorothy Hickman hopes to arrange a holiday in West Wales staying in Aberystwyth (probably at the University), to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of the Tapers at Cardigan. Then in Anglesey. Probable dates 1st to 11th September 2009.
If interested ring Dorothy Hickman for details as soon as possible.
October 2009 - veneration of the relic of St Therese of Lisieux. The relic of St Therese of Lisieux The Little Flower will be taken around England and Wales next year and it would be nice if the club could play some part in the celebration. The relic will be in the South East from Wednesday October 7th to Thursday 15th October and we hope to organise visits to one or more of the following:
Wednesday 7th October - Oxford Oratory;
Thursday 8th October - St Joseph’s Carmelite Priory, Gerrards Cross
Friday 9th October - Aylesford Priory
Sunday 11th October - Carmelite Church in Church Street, Kensington and
Monday 12th October to Thursday 15th October - Westminster Cathedral.
Full details of the itinerary of the relic on website http://www.catholicchurch.org.uk/index.php/ccb/catholic_church/relics_of_st_therese_of_Lisieux.
The secretary and/or ramble list compiler will welcome any ideas or volunteers to lead any of those events.
God bless and happy rambling.
And
Club Committee 2008-09
President: Fr Peter Newby, Parish Priest, St Mary Moorfields, E mail
moorfieldsrc@btinternet.com.Vice President: Helen Hunt, Please note new e mail address:
helen.hunt7@talktalk.net.Secretary: Tony Finnegan. Email
secretary@stfrancisramblers.org.ukTreasurer: Gillian McLauchlan, E mail: treasurer@stfrancisramblers.org.uk
Ramble List Compiler: John Haworth, E mail john_haworth2003@yahoo.co.uk
Publicity Co-ordinator: Robert Slater,
E Mail: rgs166@hotmail.comMembership Secretaries:
Elizabeth Furlong, E Mail:
elizabeth@stfrancisramblers.org.uk andFrancis O’Sullivan, E Mail: francis@stfrancisramblers.org.uk
Committee Members:
Carol Anley, E Mail:
carolanley@hotmail.comMarta Haworth,
E mail martafhaworth@yahoo.co.uk