Category: News

This September we were delighted to welcome Katie Schad who joins the Priory family as our ‘Young People and Families Worker’.

This post was created after much prayer and consideration and we hope that this will be a great encouragement as we seek to develop our ministry among young people and their families.

“I must start by saying thank you to everyone who has made me so welcome in my first couple of months at the Priory.  I already feel part of the Priory family.

I am not sure how to introduce myself. But will have a go… Over the years, I have worked as an RE and History teacher, trained as a Reader and led various Sunday-morning children’s groups, youth clubs, parent-and-toddler groups, and Bible study-groups.  Although not all at the same time!  John has heroically led many of these groups with me, so I now help him with Saturday morning football at Dallas Road Boys and Girl Club.

We moved to Lancaster six years ago when our twins finished their A’ Levels and Rebecca was only seven.  It is a long way from our families in the South but we do love the history and beauty of this area.  Before coming to the Priory we really valued being part of St Thomas’, where the wonderful children’s workers Sarah and Emma taught me a great deal.  The plan is that wherever possible we will work together and share resources.

I am very much still finding my way and working out what my priorities should be, but part of role, and close to my heart, is working with the people living on the Marsh and the new Luneside Estates.  With Sally Pidd from St Thomas’s and with the help of Pam Robinson, I have been running the Coffee and Cake Club, a women’s group that meets at the Marsh Community Centre on Friday afternoons.  It is a small and wonderfully relaxed friendly group that laughs a lot, chats, drinks coffee and eats Sally’s fantastic cakes.  We are always ready to welcome new members, so if you know of anyone who lives in the Marsh area who might like to come please let me know.

I have two long term dreams.  The first is to work with other local churches to start a Parent and Toddler group in the Willow Lane part of town. The second is, well, an even bigger dream and, fortunately, not solely dependent on me – wouldn’t it be great if every child who came to the Priory felt so welcomed and wanted that they became part of the Priory family and in doing so met with Jesus?”

REACHING THE UNREACHED (RTU)

RTU is one of the charities the Priory is supporting. It is working in southern India helping the poorest and most marginalised people, particularly women and children, by providing healthcare, clean water, housing, education and support. It cares for orphaned or abandoned children, many affected by HIV/AIDS, in children’s villages, and provides education until they are able to live independently.

The Priory’s donations have already provided Priory House and Lancaster House for two families whose lives they have transformed.

In Lancaster House live Kannan (aged 55), his wife Jeyalakshmi (42), their son Danapal (17), and their daughter Logeswari (14). Kannan had major health problems which resulted in his having to give up his job in a mill, and his wife has a major hearing loss. They were struggling living in a very inadequate leaking hut, and trying to earn enough money to feed their children. Fortunately they approached RTU who have provided them with this safe house with electricity. They are now much happier and their children are able to be educated with the little income from his petty shop.

In Priory House live Nagarajan (32), his wife Kaliswari (29), their son Masanakathirvel (10), and their daughter Vinothini (8). Their son tragically was born with an ano-rectal malformation which has resulted in his having to have ongoing major operations, costing the family a great deal of money. The situation was exacerbated by their hut being filled with rain, making it difficult for them to care for their son properly. Fortunately Nagarajan heard about RTU who, due to the family’s hand-to-mouth existence,  built them Priory House where the family now lives peacefully. Their children are both at school and they are able to look after their son in a safe environment.

It is good to have first hand information of the two families who are very grateful for this life-changing support. Our next donation will hopefully provide “St. Mary’s House” to another needy family.

Christine Dickinson

Good news!

In December, four representatives of the Marsh Community Centre, Lancaster,  (manager Councillor Rebecca Joy Novell, trustee Sally Pidd – of St. Tees -, Debz Hargreaves and Revd Jill Novell – of Lancaster Priory) met Gandalf in person, in London!

The Marsh Community Centre has been selected as one of the final five equal Winners of The Guardian Charity Awards 2016, selected from 700 charities across the UK; and  Sir Ian McKellen  presented the awards at a celebratory lunch in London!

The Guardian Charity Awards ‘offer a unique platform to celebrate the success of small and medium-sized charities working to improve social well-being. For 24 years, they have showcased their work and given winners the backing and profile they need to move forward.’

Marsh Community Centre is based in one of the most deprived wards in Lancaster and Morecambe. It provides, amongst many things, welfare  support and advice to those most in need in the district and, in an attempt to boost social cohesion and integration, it unusually caters to both a poor estate and asylum seekers seeking refuge.

The Guardan has filmed work at the Centre, and the short films, showing the work of the five Winners can be accessed by googling ‘The Guardian Charity Awards 2016 – the winners’.

On 18th December, 2016, the Well Recovery church will be making its debut at the Centre (led by Revd Carolyn Woodcock and Kerrie Hudson – supported by prayer from the local churches, especially the weekly prayer cell at St. Thomas More church).

It is wonderful news; but Marsh Community Centre has always operated on a shoestring budget and is still in need of some upgrading and repairs! (Its website shows its main donors: marshcommunitycentre.org.uk). For example, kind individuals from Lancaster Priory have paid for the regular cuts of grass at the Centre; and volunteers have maintained the grounds and painted the Centre. Donations, of any size, are always needed and welcome – and the winning of a national award indicates a confidence that such monies are being put to good use.

With thanks!

Revd Jill Novell

We are delighted to announce an exciting new partnership between The FIG Tree Fair Trade Centre and The Priory. For two weeks from 7^th – 15^th December The Priory shop will be selling FIG Tree Fair Trade gifts and their fabulous bean to bar chocolate alongside the usual Priory gifts. Initial opening hours will be 11am – 3pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the possibility of extended opening hours in the New Year which will be listed on both The Priory and The FIG Tree websites.

It is a year ago this month since the floods in Lancaster forced The FIG Tree to leave its home at St. John’s Church. The FIG Tree has continued its work however; delivering its chocolate workshops for schools and community groups, producing its unique bean to bar chocolate and continuing its Heritage Lottery Funded Project promoting Fair Trade through Lancaster’s heritage as a slave trade port.

FIG Tree Bean to Bar chocolate is available in five delicious flavours; Milk, Milk & Orange, Dark, Dark & Mint and Soya and sold as 40g bars, 100g Milk with Banana and Dark with Raspberry along with a variety of Speciality chocolates. To celebrate the new partnership limited edition cinnamon and orange FIG Tree chocolate has been produced for sale exclusively at The Priory (see photo). FIG Tree chocolate is hand made from bean to bar in Garstang the world’s first Fair Trade Town using fair trade ingredients where possible and beans purchased directly from the farmer in New Koforidua, Ghana – the first Fair Trade Town in Africa. It will be sold at the following events and will be available to buy all year round at The Priory and Single Step Wholefoods, Penny Street.

More…

• Midwinter Market at Market Square – Friday 16^th December
• Xmas Spectacular at The Priory – 7.30pm Wednesday 21st December
• Xmas Spectacular at The Priory – 7.30pm Thursday 22^nd December
• St. Nics Arcade – Monday 19^th – Friday 23^rd December

The FIG Tree are grateful to LESS (Lancaster District) CIC and St. Nics Arcade for enabling them to sell their Bean to Bar chocolate over the Christmas period. The FIG Tree always welcome volunteers to help on the stalls as well as other activities such as chocolate making and running bean to bar workshops. If interested in volunteering contact the Volunteer Coordinator at [email protected]

The FIG Tree Heritage Project focuses on St. John’s church and the Quaker slave trader Dodshon Foster. Despite no longer being at St. John’s the project will continue and end on 25^th March 2017 –  200 years after the slave trade abolition – with a weekend of heritage events entitled ‘210 Abolition: Lancaster slave trade port to Fairtrade City’.

Bruce Crowther, Executive Director of the FIG Tree said, “We are delighted to share resources with The Priory for the benefit of all, but especially residents and visitors to Lancaster. It is fitting that The FIG Tree should be based at The Priory which is an historical building of great significance while having so much to offer to contemporary society today.”