Fundraising for L'Aquila, and the parish of San Raniero, Civita di Bagno

In April 2009, central Italy was devastated by a massive earthquake. Two of our parishioners, Felicity and Malcolm Surrige are good friends with the Parish Priest, Fr Gerald Abuachi, of San Raniero, Civita di Bagno, and decided that they wanted to do something to help.

From September 2009 until the end of January 2010, St Joseph's raised money to develop an emergency fund the Parish Priest could use to meet the immediate needs of his people, and collected toys, clothes and musical instruments to send to the parishioners who had lost everything.

In December 2009 we sent our consignment of goods to L'Aquila, to arrive in the village on Christmas Day. We are very grateful to ITAL LOGISTICS, a major Anglo-Italian haulage company, who agreed to handle the transportation of these goods free of charge.

Over the course of the five months, we held the following events to raise money:

• Sunday 11th October: Cake Sale (Pastoral Centre)   raised £253.26
• Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th October: Arts & Crafts Fair (Hall)   raised £547.77
• Sunday 8th November: Youth Club Cake Sale, after the 9.30am Mass   raised £57.10
• Sunday 8th November: a Concert of Remembrance (Church)   raised £467.74
• Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th November: Fr Gerald, PP of San Raniero Parish at L'Aquila, visited St Joseph's, speaking at all the Masses
• Sunday 15th November: Monthly Parish Lunch - with an Italian flavour!   raised £542.06
• Saturday 21st November: Quiz Night (Hall)   raised £708.54
• Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th November: Our annual Advent Charity Fair   raised £973.76
• Sunday 6th December: Beavers Cake Sale, after the 9.30am Mass
• Christmas 2009: all of our Crib Offerings were donated to the L'Aquila appeal   raised £278.05
• Tuesday 29th December: A Christmas Panto by St James's Players   raised £604.02
• Monday 25th January: Around the World in 18 Musicals, with St James's Players - who kindly agreed to donate 46 tickets for their Charity Performance towards our fundraising

L'Aquila Youth Exchange - the conclusion

Fr Gerald and his group of 16 young people and their youth leaders from our twinned parish of San Raniero, L'Aquila, returned home last Tuesday evening after an action-packed week at St Joseph's. During their stay they visited many of the key London attractions, including the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London, as well as spending time canoeing, kayaking and enjoying the company of our own young people and parishioners. They have also learned much about our English Catholic heritage and heroes, in particular St Thomas More and St Johnj Fisher.

We extend our grateful thanks to the host families and all involved in the transportation, day trips, entertainment and care of our young visitors. The good which you have done to these young people is immeasurable, as they return to their earthquake-riven district of Italy. They had a fantastic time and have forged lasting friendships not only with the families with whom they stayed, but within our wider parish. The memories of their visit will last a lifetime.

Special thanks go to Felicity and Malcolm Surridge who have given unstintingly of their time and talents in pioneering and organising every aspect of our parish's twinning with the earthquake victims of L'Aquila, in which so many of our parishioners and parish groups have been involved over the past year and most recently in this most successful youth exchange visit.

L'Aquila Youth Exchange - the return trip!

Monday 23rd to Monday 30th August 2010:
Our own youth exchange visit to the beautiful Gran Sasso mountains of Central Italy

This will be a wonderful opportunity for our young people aged 11 - 18 to experience one of the most scenic and unspoiled regions o Iraly rom a safe and welcoming base with host families rom our twinned parish (including a day in Rome). If your son or daughter is interested in going on this exchange visit, or you are a youth leader willing to accompany our party to Italy, please contact Felicity and Malcolm Surridge (art@malcolmsurridge.co.uk") asap.

Wonderful News from our Twinned Parish in L'Aquila

14th November 2010

Fr Gerald, the Parish Priest of our twinned parish of San Raniero, telephoned to tell us that, thanks to St Joseph's parishioners' generosity, his youth Music Liturgy, with a total of 15 young musicians, is now more than back to full strength. Every one of the guitars, keyboards and other musical instruments that we sent out last Christmas has been pressed into service and he is using part of the funds we provided to purchase additional small guitars for some under-10s who want to learn music and participate in the Music Group, but who find the adult-sized instruments too big!

He also thanked St Joseph's for our continuing prayers. He has experienced a definite outpouring of grace on his parish with his people becoming much more involved and participative in all aspects of parish life. He feels this is in no small way due to their experience of St Joseph's parish's fraternal love and help during the difficult times they faced after the earthquake.

Prayer, love and generosity of spirit really do have the power to change lives and turn people back to God in an increasingly secular world. Let's continue to pray for our twinned parish as they rebuild their lives and community over the coming months.

Felicity & Malcolm Surridge