Parish Groups

ROTAS

Current Rota for September - December 2024 

Copies of the latest rota are available in the church.  If you are currently on any of the rotas please take a copy home or you can request for a copy to be emailed to you by contacting the Parish Office.

If you would like to volunteer for any ministry at either of the Sunday masses please contact the Parish Office.  

New volunteers are always welcome.  

Roles you can volunteer for

Welcomers, Readers, Collectors, 

Offertory Procession, 

Organ (You don't need to know how to play the organ)

Flowers (no experience necessary), 

Church Cleaners, Counters  

GROUPS

There is a lot of activity going on in our parish and always an opportunity to get more involved!

Altar Servers

The purpose of Serving is to assist the Priest and Deacons at the altar in order that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass may be offered reverently. Servers are invited to volunteer after making their First Holy Communion.  They receive training and then begin serving.  Servers need to be at church at least ten minutes before the start of Mass.  If you would like your child to be a server, please speak to one of our Parish Priests or Deacons.

Children's Liturgy

The group was set up in 2011 to welcome families with young children (up to First Communion age) to Sunday morning Mass and to help them to enjoy Mass without feeling anxious about their child making too much noise or playing. The children gather in the Upper Room with their parents after the initial welcome and celebrate a separate Liturgy of the Word that is more appropriate to their level of understanding. The children enjoy listening to and talking about the Gospel reading, saying prayers, colouring pictures and making Gospel based crafts! They return at the offertory to show their work and continue to celebrate Mass with the rest of the Parish.    

Church Cleaning

This group ensures the church is kept in a clean and hygienic state.  There is currently a rota of three small teams of two people who clean the church, at a time convenient for them during the week.  The cleaning involves vacuuming / mopping floors, and cleaning marks from furniture, doors, windows etc.
You can help by volunteering to join one of the teams, which are comprised of men and women, or by joining with one or two or three others to form your own team. If you would like to help, please contact the Parish Office.

Extra-Ordinary Ministers of Communion

Ministers of Communion are appointed by the Parish Priest.

Flowers
The flower arrangements in church are currently done by one volunteer.  You can help by joining them to take turns to sort the arrangements.  If you are interested please contact the Parish Office.

Liturgy Group

The Liturgy Group has an open membership and works closely with our Ministers and all other parish groups to help to plan a range of appropriate liturgies and prepare the church for each season eg: Lent, Easter, Pentecost, Advent, Christmas and special feast days (Our Lady of Lourdes). We are involved in organising the Stations of the Cross services during Lent and saying the Rosary during May.  We work with our musicians to introduce new Mass settings and hymns to the parish. We try to organise Parish Day Retreats within the Parishes in Communion each year. 

We do our best to work towards meeting specific liturgical needs within the parish as well as making all our liturgies as prayerful and meaningful as possible.  Everyone in the Parish is welcome to join us for one or all of our planning meetings.  Please contact the Parish Office for the date of next meeting.

Management and Finance Committee  

The Management and Finance Committee deal with building and maintenance work connected with the Church, Mazenod Centre and Presbytery together with rental policies etc.  Its remit includes health and safety and fire safety issues.  It is responsible for ensuring the financial stability of the parish by monitoring income and expenditure and parish accounts. The members of the committee meet six or seven times a year.  For any further information please contact the Parish Office.

Readers  

Readers have the responsibility of reading the readings during Holy Mass. The aim is to read in a manner that the congregation can hear clearly, with intonation and punctuation that aid understanding.

Volunteers go onto a rota and have an opportunity to read about every four to eight weeks depending on which mass rota they are on. Training will be provided, plus a chance to practice at the microphone.  If you would like to find out more about being a reader, contact the Parish Office.

    

Sacristans

The Sacristans prepare the altar and the sacristy for the Mass and for other services.

There are currently 2 Sacristans who share the duties of preparing the altar, the sacred vessels, the linen and vestments for Mass. They take responsibility for ensuring that the linen, (Albs, Altar Cloths etc) is laundered. For further details contact the Parish Office.

Social Committee

The Committee fund raise for the Parish by arranging social events that the parishioners will (hopefully!) enjoy attending. They also arrange celebration events for the parish in line with the Liturgical calendar. If you would like to join the Committee or would like to arrange or suggest any ideas for fundraisers please contact the Parish Office.

St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP)

The SVP visit people who are sick, lonely; in their homes, in hospital and in care homes on a regular basis and offer additional practical support where needed.  They also organise events for older and isolated people.  As they visit people in their homes, they have strict safeguarding policies and procedures and all visiting members hold a DBS certificate.  The SVP meet every four weeks on a Fridays at 11.30am in the church foyer and always welcome anyone to join them.  Please contact the Parish Office on 0117 9498743 for more information.

Welcomers

Welcomers make visitors and parishioners feel welcome as they come to mass. We aim to offer a smile and a few friendly words to as many people as possible, whilst handing out the hymnbooks and the weekly church bulletin. This task is important, to make everyone feel welcome.

Help by joining the 'Welcomers' rota. This requires you to be at church about 30 minutes early when it is your turn, to arrange the books and bulletins prior to handing them out before people start arriving for mass. If you are interested, contact the Parish Office.

Woodland Players were founded in the Parish in 1977 by parishioner Josie Reed. The drama group is still going strong and meet every Thursday in the School. They put on a couple of performances a year and seek to entertain the audience, not shock or thought provoke them, by presenting good family entertainment. If you would like to join the Players please contact them on facebook@thewoodlandplayers.co.uk