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Recent Activities
Parish Quiz Night - 17/03/12
The recent quiz at St Joan of Arc was a great success with over 100
in attendance. It was organised by quiz master extraordinaire, Michael
Maher with the help of Linda. The current Confirmation group formed
the back bone of helpers doing everything from arranging tables, serving,
helping with the quiz, raffle and cleaning up. The evening had a St
Patricks theme and the questions were both fun and challenging. Two
of the tables comprised members loosely bound together with any hint
of Irish ancestry. In keeping with ancient Irish tradition the men's
team were separated from the women's team. It was this men's team, "Jed's
Boys" who won, some small consolation after the days rugby results.
A big thanks is due to all who made this evening a great success, a
total of £587 was raised for the parish..
Family Fast Day Frugal Lunch,
Lent 2012
Our Parish CAFOD frugal lunch, held on Family Fast Day, was very well
supported this Lent. The message of water poverty seemed to make us
pause and think. Over forty people came to enjoy a bowl of soup together
and funds raised for CAFOD at the lunch made in excess of £250,
which under the Government 'Match Scheme' will raise our lunch donations
to over £500.
There was a lovely atmosphere in the St. Joan's Centre: conversation,
laughter and a good cross-section of our parish community. As ever,
I must extend heartfelt thanks to all who support the frugal lunches.
My special thanks must go to those wonderful cooks who helped make the
soup, Katie, Louise, Catherine and Maggie; to Jo and Francis who donated
bread; and the essential soup servers and washer uppers, Louise, Maggie,
Lorena and Anne. These lunches would not be possible without their generous
help.
The donations for CAFOD this Lent are still coming in: boxes will be
collected at Easter. But already it is clear to see that our community
of St. Joan's, through the generosity of the donations received so far,
has been moved by the plight of so many, as they seek a future with
clean water and safe sanitation.
Jo Stephens.
A Great Skittles Evening Was Had
by All!
"All ladies are welcome to come - no age
barred!" So, that was it! Twenty nine of us let Patsy know we were
going to be there; what we wanted to eat 'with our chips'; and then
turned up at the Jolly Farmer pub at Black Nest on the evening of 25th
January. We were all looking for the company of friends, heaps of laughter,
the fun of knocking down lots of skittles and (in the case of yours
truly), a delicious basket of scampi and chips - all for the princely
sum of eight pounds!!
Looking around, I saw that some of our ladies were young; some were
a little older; and then, there were those of us who were still a tiny
bit older again - and qualified as Grandmas, or thereabout! But, my
goodness, when it came to having the determination to knock those skittles
down, there were no differences between any of us! There were cheers
when we heard the whack of the wooden ball crashing down the skittles
and commiserations when the ball whizzed past unhindered on its way
down the side or through the middle of them.
In the end it was Cathy Arnold who won the prize bottle of champagne,
so generously donated by Fr. Niven. The evening had been a huge success
- and we can't wait for the next Skittles evening at the Jolly Farmer,
Patsy! Thank you for arranging such a great evening!
Friday Night Live
A hundred people attended the event on the 16th December, not all from
St Joan's, so it was a good mixing of communities. There was time to socialise
and have a drink from the licensed bar, before we served a two course
meal of chilli and rice with condiments of tomato and coriander salsa,
sour cream and cheese. This was followed by festive apple and mincemeat
crumble, or sticky toffee pudding/chocolate cake with cream. After everyone
had eaten, The Arc Band performed two sets, mostly of up-tempo numbers,
some of their own composition. They rounded off the evening with their
version of the crowd pleasing "Hey Jude" which saw everyone
up dancing and joining in with the chorus. A parishioner kindly donated
lights for the band creating a very professional backdrop
Most of the helpers were teenagers and they gave their time for free.
We hope to have raised £1400 to be divided between the church
and Arcaid.
"Just Lunch"
 
   
On Monday 12th December 2011 a happy
crowd of parishioners went to the Chequers Pub at Well to enjoy a lunch
together. The lunch was organised by Sheila Thorp, leader of the social
walking group
Christmas Bazaar
As usual, the Christmas Bazaar was a very succesful parish
event with many stalls, the cafe in the foyer and of course the Irish
Coffee. Over £3400 was raised for parish funds. Many thanks to
Jenny Dorsa, Michael McDonnell, Paulo Dorsa and to all the parishioners
for their generous gifts, for buying Grand Raffle tickets, shopping
at the Bazaar and supporting and helping in so many different ways.
An important fundraising event and an enjoyable social occasion celebrating
the family of the parish.
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