Mother and daughter duo complete 70-mile challenge for CAFOD

A Horwich based mother and daughter duo have raised more than £10,000 for the development charity CAFOD over the last ten years, and recently embarked on the second half of a 140-mile walking challenge.

Last year Elizabeth and Christine Dewhurst set off to tackle the first half of the Glyndŵr’s Way in Wales.  On Saturday 16 September, they returned to complete the latter 70 miles of the walk, taking a week to finish the mammoth walk.

Christine has been supporting CAFOD for 40 years since setting up a CAFOD group in her local parish at St Mary’s, Horwich.   When Christine was setting off to walk Hadrian’s Wall in 2007 with her friend, her daughter Elizabeth decided to join in and collect sponsorship for the charity.

Christine said: “It all started when Elizabeth said she’d like to join my friend and I on the Hadrian’s Wall walk in 2007 and raise some money.  Since then, we’ve completed ten long distance walks together for CAFOD.

“I’m just conscious that we are very lucky and some people don’t have such luck, which is why it’s great to be able to raise money for CAFOD to help.”

Elizabeth said: “I like supporting CAFOD because they need money to help others.  They provide clean water in developing countries, help people to grow their own food and help so that children can go to school.”

Elizabeth has raised more than £10,000 for CAFOD since the 2007 Hadrian’s wall walk, and this year her sponsorship surpassed the £1,000 mark after just a few weeks of fundraising.

Ann Wilson, CAFOD’s local representative in Bolton, added: “Christine and Elizabeth are a great pair and very committed to CAFOD.  We’re so grateful for the work they’ve done over the years.  We all kept our fingers crossed that the weather stayed dry for them!”

Have you been doing some fundraising this Harvest? We love hearing about it, so let us know!

You can email salford@cafod.org.uk or call the Salford office on 0161 705 0605. 

Skylarks Choir sing their hearts out for CAFOD

St. Mary’s, Brownedge Church was packed on the evening of Friday 30th June for a concert by the Skylarks Community Choir which raised over £2000 for the charity CAFOD.

 

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The choir raised £2,400 from ticket sales and also hosted a bumper raffle with the proceeds shared between the choir and the parish’s Connect2 Peru project.

There was a wonderful evening of entertainment from the 130 strong choir, led by Jane Swarbrick.

The event was a brilliant team effort from the members of the CAFOD group including Carmel, Chloe and Connor from the St. Mary’s High School  group, meaning that the evening was a brilliant success and a “fantastic way of helping those less fortunate than ourselves.”

The organisers would like to send their thanks to Fr Mark for allowing them to use the church and to all who supported them in any way.

Ann Wilson, a local CAFOD representative in Salford, said: “We’re so grateful to everyone who helped to make this event the success it was. What a wonderful way to raise money that will go to helping people overseas!”

Find out more about CAFOD’s work.

Monthly Prayers July 2017

Opening Prayer:

To God the father, who created the world;

to God the Son, who redeemed the world;

to God the Holy Spirit, who sustains the world;

be all praise and glory, now and forever. Amen

–

Psalm 95

¹ O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
³ For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
⁷ For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.

–

Scripture      Matthew 8:23-27

²³ And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.

²⁴ A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” ²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. ²⁷ They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

 

Reflection    From Job 38

Where were you when I laid earth’s foundations?

Who decided the dimensions of it – do you know?

Who laid its cornerstone, when all the stars of the morning were singing with joy?

Who pent up the sea behind closed doors,

when it leapt tumultuous out of the womb,

when I wrapped it in a robe of mist,

when I marked the bounds it was not to cross?

Come thus far, I said, and no further;

here your proud waves shall break.

–

Intercessions

For those who watch and wait and weep today.

–

Closing Prayer

How wonderful, O Lord, are the works of your hand!

The heavens declare your glory.

The arch of the sky displays your handiwork.

In your love, you have given us the power

to behold the beauty of your world in all its splendour.

The sun and the stars, the valleys and the hills,

the rivers and the lakes, all disclose your presence.

The roaring breakers of the sea tell of your awesome might.

In your goodness you have made us able to hear

the music of the world.

A divine song sings through all creation.

May the holy and life-giving God teach us

to respect all his works,

to praise him in all we do,

to share in his work of creation

and to live in his glory.

   (David Adam)