Preston & District Circle celebrate President's Sunday

Brother John Lord, President of Preston & District Circle and his wife, Samantha, chose St. Andrew & Blessed George Haydock church at Cottam for their President's Sunday Mass.

.

The Mass, at which John served, was celebrated by Canon Adrian Towers and was followed by Sunday Lunch at Barton Grange Hotel where forty-five guests, whose ages ranged from 1 (yes, 1!) to 80++, enjoyed an excellent three-course meal and convivial company.

Pictured above (l to r back row):

Shaun Aspden (Vice- President), Jean Aspden, Rebecca Lord, Samantha Lord, Rachel Lord.

(Front row) Mrs. Vera Towers, Canon Adrian Towers, John Lord, Helen Cowley and Mike Cowley

Samantha and John with their daughters, Rebecca and Rachel

Preston South Circle support Gallowy's

Brother Arthur Whitlock from Preston South  circle is a strong supporter of Galloway's Society for the Blind, which assists visually impaired people across Lancashire, Sefton and indeed the whole UK.

As the immediate Past President of the circle, Arthur had no problem deciding who he would donate the charity funds to from his year in office and he is pictured presenting Stuart Clayton, Chief Executive of Galloways, with £500. Arthur commented, “I am a regular visitor to the society’s Preston site and in the run up to Christmas, I am  part of a team that play ‘Father Christmas’ in Preston’s St. George’s shopping centre. We are just some of the hundreds of people who help to raise funds towards the £1m needed to meet the costs of the many services that Galloways provide across the North West and beyond”. 

Anyone for croquet?

Furness Circle enjoyed an evening of croquet at the Leven Valley Croquet Club on Tuesday 21st June. The players later retired to the White Hart Inn at nearby Bouth, where they enjoyed a freshly cooked supper.

 

Players Mike, Martin, Kath and Margaret

Standing (Left to Right) Mike Holmes, Martin Holmes, Jim Croskery (President) and Andrew Page

 

Seated (Left to Right) Mrs Kath Jackson, Mrs Margaret Tate and Mrs Pat Payne

The eight player and photographer was Eddie Payne.

 

Family Fun Day - Lisieux Hall June 2016

Message from the Provincial President Robert Thompson.

Dear Brothers, 

A big THANK YOU to all who helped make the family fun day a success, despite the weather and counter attractions such as the Queens Birthday celebrations. 

Thanks go to all those who helped set the field up on the Saturday; assisted at the Mass; helped serve the wine and nibbles; organised the children races and supervised the inter Circle games; ran the other games and raffle; turned up and hopefully enjoyed yourselves.

Also those who helped set up and dismantle the marques etc., in the rain, and not forgetting those who worked to make the whole event happen.

Danger Men at Work - or how many men does it take to erect a gazebo in the rain?

It's a goal!  Provincial Ladies score in the penalty shoot-out.

Target golf at Lisieux.  A hole in  one - I don't think so!!  

On your marks, get set, GO.  One of the many children's races.

Race winners waiting for the medal presentation.

Accrington Brothers relax before taking the Family Rally Trophy from Preston 14!

Raffle ticket time.  Well it wouldn't be a Catenian event without a raffle!

The usual Preston 14 'Jacob's join'.

Other happy campers having a family picnic.

Bro Director cooks up a storm, supervised by Bro Provincial Chamberlain, Bernard.
Is he using the correct procedure Bernard?

Past Presidents lunch Lisieux style, (or feeding time at the zoo!!).

Broughton in Craven win the Taylor Platter

Broughton in Craven members were delighted to win the Taylor Platter awarded by Province 10 to the circle who increase their membership by the largest amount, relative to circle size, between 2015 and 2016. The platter was presented by Provincial President: Robert Thompson on Thursday 16th June.

The picture shows Chris Nash, now Circle Secretary, who acted as Membership Officer during that year, Franklin Schutz, President during that year and Robert Thompson, Provincial President.

Blessed Trinity RC High School win Broughton in Craven Public Speaking Competition

Broughton in Craven were delighted to host a Public Speaking competition on Thursday 16th June at the Tempest Arms, Elslack.

We were able to revive this competition, last held in 2014, for Years 8 and 9 pupils from our local Roman Catholic High schools. These pupils are 13 or 14 years old and learning the skills of public speaking from their enthusiastic teachers, Siobhan Woodruff of Blessed Trinity High School Burnley and Mark Jackson of Ss. John Fisher & Thomas More High School, Colne. 

A really good turnout of members and wives from province and Broughton made it a really good evening. All were amazed how well such young people could stand up and speak in front of so many unknown faces.

Circle President, Bernard Swarbrick, introduced the event and thanked so many for coming along to support our young people.The topic was, 'Is Social Media a good or bad thing?' Arguments on both sides were well structured and contained many facts and ideas. Judging panel Chair, Mike Finley, told both teams how well they had performed congratulating them both and saying how impressed we all were. After much discussion the judges gave the David Carlile Trophy for Public Speaking to Blessed Trinity because they felt that the confidence in answering questions was more developed. The Trophy was then awarded by Barbera Carlile, David's wife. Barbera is a Circle Widow and it was lovely to see her attending. David was a very active member and worked at Ss. John Fisher & Thomas More High School as a Senior Master.

Prizes of book tokens were awarded to the winners by Provincial President, Robert Thompson. It was a fantastic evening and we will certainly look forward to next year's match. We would like to Thank Mike Finley, Sandra Donnelly and Terence Donnelly for acting as the judging Panel.

The picture shows.

L to R   Mike Finley (Chair of judging panel), Tegan, Mariam and Rugile from Ss. John Fisher & Thomas More, Barbera Carlile, Sandra Donnelly, Terence Donnelly and Robert Thompson then the winners from Blessed Trinity High School, Burnley;  Danielle, Alice and Leoni.

Broughton in Craven Circle Vice-President wins Horwich 5K trail race.

Chris Beesley, our Vice-President, surprised us all. Most of us get out of breath climbing stairs but Chris has just won a prize for being  1st V60 (veteran runner over 60) in the Horwich 5k trail race series. There were three races held in the spring over a 5km off road course and I was 1st V60 in all three. An example to the circle  the next most energetic member plays golf then snooker or bowls. Well done Chris. Hopefully not on 2017 events list.

The picture shows Chris Beesley with the veterans trophy.

Lytham St Annes Circle encountered The Queen on their charity visit to Brian House Children’s Hospice

On the first day of the celebrations for the Queen’s official 90^th birthday, three brothers of Lytham St Annes Circle went to their local children’s hospice for a tour of the facilities and to present a £2,000 cheque to its Community Fundraiser Michelle Lonican.

Immediate Past Circle President Adrian Crook led the Circle delegation to present the fruits of the Circle’s charitable efforts during his Presidential year. He was accompanied by Adrian Denye (Circle Treasurer) and Robert Thompson (then Circle Secretary; currently Province 10 Provincial President).

After a tour of the facilities, where every opportunity was taken by the delegation to stimulate and speed up their transition into second childhood (see the photo taken inside the upgraded Sensory Room while the heated water mattress had a stationary moment!), they all went to the recently refurbished kitchen area for a full group photo.

The group photo shows the moment when Adrian is actually presenting his charity cheque to Michelle, with the nursing and volunteer staff, the Queen, some of the patients and Robert all looking on, while the Circle treasurer Adrian appears unconcerned about the money draining out of his coffers as he plays with one of the patients.

The delegation came away thoroughly impressed with the happy and professional environment that the staff have been able to create with all the community donations made to the hospice.  

Three new Brothers enrolled in Westmorland Circle during 2015-2016

Bro. Mike Goodier greets the three new members enrolled in
the Westmorland Circle during his Presidential Year 2015-2016.
L-R Colin Barnes, Bro. Mike Goodier, Bro. Brian Tate, Bro. Nick Drake-Lee

Westmorland Installation

Bro Paul Bates was installed  as President of Westmorland Circle on 31 May.
Pictured L-R Bro. Peter Western, Prov. Vice President, Bro. Robert Thompson, Prov. President, Bro. Paul Bates, President, Bro. Tony Wade, Vice President.

On yer bike!

The Way of the Roses is the most recent of the coast to coast routes to be opened up and brother Steve Seed from Preston South (235 circle) recently completed the 170 miles from Morecambe to Bridlington over three days with a group of work colleagues.

Steve commented ‘Some of the lads at work fancied undertaking  a challenge to raise money for charity and we chose Combat Stress which is the UK's leading Veterans' mental health charity who help ex-service men and women and their families. Most of us are keen cyclists so it was an easy choice to pick the Way of the Roses as it winds its way through some absolutely stunning countryside’.

Setting off on Friday 13^th wasn’t an issue but the usual prevailing westerly wind that normally makes the route a little easier decided to swing round to the north east. Undeterred the group set off at a blistering pace only to be confronted with the Pennines – there is no shame in knowing your limits and walking up the big hills.

Summing up Steve said ‘As well as the camaraderie some memorable highlights of the trip were passing by Fountains Abbey, York Minster, and the never ending panoramic views across the Lune Valley,  Yorkshire Dales, Nidderdale and the Yorkshire Wolds. I would recommend it to anyone and best of all we raised £2,178 to help the lads and lasses of our armed forces into the bargain’.

Part of the group with Eric Morecambe

Steve Seed with Eric (this could do with stretching to make me look taller and thinner!)

4088 – Mick and me with Eric

Mick and Steve with Eric

Curry on the second night

The group in Bridlington

Journey's End