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Parish services, organisations and groups |
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President: Jean Perkins
The SVP is an international organisation of lay people founded in 1833 in Paris by Blessed Fredric Ozanam. On a national basis the SVP is also involved in housing homeless, care of offenders and their dependants, holidays for families in need, clubs for the deaf and furniture stores/thrift shops for emergency cases.
The branch in our parish consists of men and women members who participate in person to person help to both individuals and families. We visit the lonely, elderly or sick in their homes, in hospital or in sheltered accommodation. We also provide funds for Fr. John to help with the itinerant poor who sometimes make their way to his door.
Saffron Walden's parish conference is twinned with an SVP conference in Kerala in India where we send direct funding every quarter. Elapphy is a village in the hills of the Iddukki district. For 2006 our Conference in Saffron Walden has undertaken a new project. Ten latrines are to be built for people who do not already have this facility in their home. The ten units will each serve a family (43 individuals) in Elapphy and should make a real difference to their lives.
Our own parish conference is funded through parish collections, legacies and from members' contributions (the 2007 annual retiring collection amounted to £331.46). We meet in the parish hall at 20:00 every Monday. Here, in Saffron Walden, we are fortunate in that we maintain an active branch (in some areas the SVP has been forced to close local branches as a result of an ageing membership) but our six members are now, bar one, all over 60 and we would welcome the addition of younger members. If any parishioner would like to help in this most satisfying, but not too time-consuming work, please contact Jean Perkins or Mike Altree.