CR @ YORK 2010

On 29 May some 60 or so Companions and friends gathered at St Olave’s Church Hall in York for a get-together in the north. We began with a warm welcome from Fr Nicolas CR and this was followed by a talk from Bishop Martin of Whitby. He used the theme of the day ‘Come and See’ to describe how, as a newly-appointed Bishop, he had visited different parts of his diocese. He interspersed his talk with much humour as he took us along on his visits to a steel works, farming communities and elsewhere.

The area of Cleveland is made up of a mixture of wealth and poverty, of commercial enterprise and long term unemployment. He focussed on the needs of a stable family and the need for self-respect and self-esteem. There is hope in the area and, with effort and investment, the north east does have a future.

Bishop Martin took many questions, such was the interest in his talk. We then moved to St Olave’s church for Mass at which Bishop Martin presided and Fr Nicolas CR preached. Fr Aidan CR played the organ in a spirited fashion.

Lunch was enjoyed back in the church hall and then there were three presentations. The first was from Tessa Oram who works with Faith in Education in Hull. Tessa described some of the problems which face children in Hull before describing her work with ‘Filling the gaps’, a project in which she goes with her assistant Julie into schools and gives the most challenging children a chance to play and shine on their terms, with amazing results in improved confidence and self esteem.

Jonathan Pape spoke about developments in the Mirfield Centenary Church Appeal and shared with us the various stages that the project is going through. He was asked a number of questions about the viability of the project and whilst he did say that some aspects of fund raising were slower than had been hoped, he drew much confidence from the high proportion of Companions who had made commitments.

Our last speaker was Fr Nicolas CR who talked briefly of his work in Zimbabwe and the results of making the CD of Shona singing which had exceeded all expectations.

The day ended with refreshments.

A selection of images from CR @ York 2010

Click on an individual picture to see a larger image.

With grateful thanks to Paul Taylor for the photographs  (except the last one!).