Polski
wersja stronySociety of St Vincent de Paul Bathgate
Charity No S.C. 006326
Parish of St. Mary’s and St. Columba’s
Annual Report of the Conference for the year 2009/2010
Our members meeting every week at 6.30pm on Mondays in the Parish Hall .
We have 7 members , 5 men and two women , each meeting lasts about 50 minutes .We are active in various different facets of parish work as Readers, Eucharistic Ministers ,Passkeepers etc.. One of our former members Ronnie McBryde died this year ,Ronnie was our Minute Secretary for many years, he had been staying in a Care Home at West Calder . May God Grant him Eternal Rest
We make regular visits to the sick in hospitals and nursing homes and also regular home visits , these include Redmill, Heatherfield , Tippethill Meadowvale St. John’s Hospital at Howden and various other Care and Nursing homes .
The Bishops of Scotland operate a National programme for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults . this programme requires all members of the SSVP and any others who come in contact with children and older people to go through a Disclosure process during which the Scottish police have to be consulted . All of our members have been through this Disclosure process .
Our members can be contacted on our public S.S.V.P. Mobile telephone . The number is advertised weekly in the parish newsletter . 0795 225 4013 , the conference area also includes Blackburn .We often receive requests for furniture fridges and washing machines from young people being given new tenancies , we are able to fund and provide these things in cooperation with HomeAid .
We provide caravan holidays at Seton Sands where the Archdiocese has four large caravans . In summer of 2009 we had nine families from the Bathgate area using our caravans .The families were taken to and from the site and given some pocket money . We also have a 6 berth caravan at Petticur Bay Caravan Park . All costs relating to the transport of families to and from the caravan sites are met by the conference. We are most grateful to Acredale Community Centre for the use of their mini-bus and their volunteers who assist us when taking families to these caravan sites . This year 2010 , two of our caravans at Port Seton are to be replaced with newer caravans , all conferences in the Archdiocese will be contributing towards the cost of the replacements . The cost of the caravan project for all the Bathgate families this year was about £1000.00 .
We sponsor several twin conferences of the S.S.V.P. in Kerala State, in Southern India and also sponsor three technical apprenticeships and five University Degree Courses in the same area . the funding which we provide saves the respective families enormous costs and sacrifices and is tangible evidence of our sharing to help them overcome poverty in their own parishes , details of the various schemes can be seen below The Catholic Christians of Kerala have a number of parishes which are twinned with Saint Vincent de Paul conferences throughout Scotland, they are sometimes known as the St .Thomas Christians The tomb of the Apostle is in the City of Madras .
Indian Student Sponsorship Scheme
The purpose of this scheme is to help suitably qualified students to continue and finish their studies. Whatever subjects they choose, the successful conclusion of their studies means that they are much more capable of finding a job and earning a living. In this way they can support their families for the future. We now have 4 different schemes for sponsorship , the costs of these is about £750.00 annually
Vocational 1 year course for auxiliary nursing, plumbing, commercial/secretarial practice etc.
Technical: a 3 year course for nursing and some types of engineering.
Vidya Jothi: Each Indian Conference has adopted at least one poor school child in their area who, without guidance, motivation and assistance, would be unlikely to receive an education. National Council of Scotland has supported this scheme since 2004 , we in Bathgate now sponsor two of these children .
Higher Educational: This new scholarship scheme helps engineering and medical students not covered by the Technical scheme. Their courses normally run for 5 years and involve huge costs for the students and their families.
Details of the sponsored student, including the course being studied, are given to the sponsor, generally on completion of their course. This takes the form of a ‘certificate’ each year, giving details of the progression through the course, which can be used for display purposes if desired. It is not possible to ‘match’ a particular student to a Conference in Scotland.
We send a Mass card to all the families who have a bereavement in the parish. The conference pays a stipend for each bereavement . On the 28th December this year 2009 the Conference arranged a Memorial Mass for all the dead of the parish ,about 170 parishioners attended this service During this mass the representatives of the bereaved families received a pot plant to put on the grave and a candle was lit and placed on the altar. After the Mass , refreshments were provided in the Parish hall , almost 100 people came to the hall for a cup of tea and a chat . This year 42 Parishioners died, May God grant them Eternal rest
During the Christmas period , 25 Families received grants of money and groceries. Pupils from St Mary’s Primary School assisted by donating twelve boxes of groceries collected at their Harvest Festival . The amount distributed over the Christmas period was about £1300.00 . We also gave groceries and money to some young people living in Newlands House , a West Lothian Council Homeless hostel at Hopetoun St. Bathgate .
All the children attending the Easter Masses in 2009, both pre-school and primary school received an Easter egg , these were distributed by the Parish priest at the end of each Easter Mass , they were very happy occasions. Any surplus eggs were taken to the Children's Ward at St. John's Hospital Livingston .
There is a 26 seater weekly Mass bus operated by McKechnie Coaches and driven by Peter McKechnie which runs to all areas of the parish including Boghall for the two Sunday masses at 9.00am and 10.30am , The Society spends about £2500.00 annually to operate this service , Currently about 40 parishioners use it every week. Any parishioner who wishes to start using the bus regularly , should contact a member of the Society .
One of our parishioners Fr. Bill McAvoy , a Mill Hill Missionary working in St Jose in the Phillipines distributes various medicines from his Mission Station to the local populace in the area .He is known to all of our members , he came to our meeting and spoke about the work of his mission ,we were able to help him with this project by donating to his Mission to help with the costs he sends us commentaries of his work from time to time
We are also assisting an Australian seminarian Joshua Meichels of the Emmanuel Community who is working on a two year project for FIDESCO in Taipei teaching English in a Catholic community there, we have made a donation to help with his living costs . He will send reports of his work in Taiwan to one of our Brothers who has been involved with the Community for a number of years .
The Society is most grateful to all who contribute to our collecting boxes in the church every week , and to the many generous people who give us donations from time to time throughout the year , we do our best to distribute this money wisely and to those in greatest need. Our conference also needs new younger members , both men and women ,to help us continue with this work, any members of the parish who feel that they could assist the Societies aims and aspirations should speak to one of our members.
Joe Milligan
for the members of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Bathgate