Share the Journey Walk along Worthing Prom 23rd June

St Mary of the Angels Parish in Worthing will be walking along the prom in solidarity with people on the move as part of our Share the Journey Campaign.

The walk will start at their stall by Worthing Pier at 11am on Saturday 23 June where you can choose one of three walks along the prom of varying lengths:

Walk 1 – Pier to Montague Place & return – 1 mile;

Walk 2 – Pier to Grand Avenue & return – 2 miles;

Walk 3 – Pier to Sea Lane Cafe & return – 4 miles, or  choose your own distance.

Each walk will return to the start where you can sign a ‘distance card’ to confirm the miles contributed, and another calling on our government to work for a positive Global Agreement in Sept.

Click to sign our petition to our Prime Minister now.

You are welcome to join the walk, just make your way to Worthing Pier for 11am on Saturday the 23rd of June.

Chris Richardson, CAFOD Schools Volunteer shares his experience.

Chris Richardson, CAFOD Schools Volunteer

We asked Chris Richardson if he would share his experience of volunteering. He said yes!

‘When I retired I wanted to do some volunteering and CAFOD seemed an obvious choice. CAFOD wanted schools’ volunteers and were short of people who were comfortable going into secondary schools so I volunteered. I did the training and have been visiting schools locally for five or six years.

‘In secondary schools it is often possible to work with smaller groups in classroom visits or as part of a carousel on an off-timetable day. It is enjoyable to orchestrate changes in mood in the room from laughter to compassion. On these occasions you feel that you are really making contact, not only with their minds but, in a sense, with their souls.

‘As well as secondary school visits I have also done quite a few primary school visits. These I find rather scary. All those bright, enthusiastic faces, staring at you. But they provide many good moments – random answers given by the very youngest to insightful questions by the more mature.

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‘Delivering CAFOD schools’ assemblies is very easy – the schools are welcoming and the CAFOD material is of a very high quality. New volunteers are trained and given ongoing support and opportunities to work alongside more experienced volunteers until they are confident enough to ‘go solo’.

‘It has been a pleasure to have the opportunity to encourage young people to recognise the needs of others.

Our thanks go to Chris for his dedication and wonderful warmth and humility and also to all our Schools Volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering with us, please do get in touch and we can discuss how you could best join our team.

Meet CAFOD Volunteer, Alastair Anderson

Office volunteers help us with the smooth running of the Volunteer Centre and support us with a variety of administrative tasks. Alastair Anderson started with us in the Volunteer Centre in December 2015 and has helped us with a rich variety of tasks, including keeping track of events and volunteers throughout the diocese and other important admin.

Alastair also acts as a parish volunteer throughout the four-church Parish of Guildford, supporting the volunteer in his own church but also covering the other three churches while we search for a volunteer there. In addition to volunteering in the parish and the office, Alastair is also Area Coordinator, helping us stay in touch with people across the Guildford Deanery.

Alastair volunteers because ‘CAFOD is an organisation working to help others and it gives me the opportunity to help others, to give back to others and to help our brothers and sisters the world over.

‘I also hope that the experience of office administration work that I’ve had at CAFOD will help me career-wise. I enjoy meeting a wide range of new people when volunteering in the Parish, as well as the banter and camaraderie when at the Volunteer Centre.

‘Contact with members of my Parish has given me greater confidence and I find great satisfaction in learning new office skills.

‘If you’re thinking about volunteering, I would say definitely give it a whirl. CAFOD is a continuously evolving and dynamic charity. We are all making a difference in the world – long term to help those affected by poverty. Come and join us.’

Our sincere thanks go to Alastair for his willingness, his time, his efforts and of course, his winning personality and good company.

If you are interested in volunteering please do get in touch – we are looking for all volunteer roles, but in particularly someone to help us with media and social media. There are also quite a few parishes without volunteers so if you’d be able to help us there that would be brilliant!