THIS MONTH’S NEWS
WELCOMING FATHER FRANCIS DOUGAN
We send a big welcome to Fr Francis Dougan who will be ordained our new Bishop on Saturday 9th March. He is assured of our thoughts and prayers. At the same time, we say a fond farewell to Fr Martin Chambers, who was a great Friend of SPRED, as he too will soon be ordained the Bishop of Dunkeld.
DIOCESAN SPRED MASS – SUNDAY 17 MARCH
We will be celebrating a Diocesan SPRED Mass at St John’s in Stevenson with our Stevenson and Irvine Groups who will host this event. Fr Martin Poland will say the Mass and we will have the usual tea/coffee/juice, biscuits, and maybe a sandwich in the hall afterwards.
All are welcome!
KILMARNOCK GROUP MASS – TUESDAY 5 MARCH
The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Jim Hayes. There will be a mass report in the upcoming April Newsletter.
AYR GROUPS MASS – THURSDAY 7 MARCH
The Ayr Groups are coming together to celebrate Mass on Thursday 7th March.
This will take place in St Margaret’s Hall at 7pm and the Mass will be said by Fr. Stephen Latham.
OTHER GROUP NEWS
We will try and keep you updated on news from our groups throughout the Diocese in upcoming newsletters.
KILTWALK – SUNDAY 28 APRIL
Our Fundraising activities have drastically reduced since the time of Covid. However, we are hoping to attempt a number of these this year. To kick things off again, we are going to enter a team for this year’s Kiltwalk Event!
Contact Hugh McGuire in either of the following ways below if you would like to get involved or simply to sponsor someone who is doing the walk:
Email: office.ayr@spredgalloway.org.uk
Mobile: 07306138442
You can also find a Sponsorship Form on the Website itself to download for your convenience.
For further details about the Glasgow Kiltwalk see their website:
https://thekiltwalk.co.uk/events/glasgow
LOOKING BACK
WEE BLETHER
Six Friends came to our first Wee Blether event held in the Ayr SPRED Office.
Food and news were shared just like our usual agape, a speciality of the day being panckaes!
Some of the Friends tried out our new website and received printed copies of the February newsletter. Several other topics were discussed including: The Reconciliation Service/Session, Diocesan Mass, the Kiltwalk, Praise Session and a bowling social event.
We hope to have one again as soon as we’re able!
AYR GROUPS RECONCILIATION SERVICE – 19.2.24
All Ayr Groups were represented. Our Symbolic Object was a statue of Praying Hands and this focused our minds before the service began. Movingly, our Friends and their Faith Friends had the chance to come out and place their hands on top of this statue and make their own silent prayer.
As usual we began the service by singing Companions on the Journey.
As Deacon Robert led us through the service we Celebrated God’s word at the Table of the Lord, which was set up by some of our Friends. Our Readings were accompanied by an appropriate mime.
The message of “live in my love” was given to all present. Prayers were said and we all sung together Lay Your Hands Gently Upon Us. As well as saying together the Our Father, we shared the sign of peace accompanied by ‘Shalom My Friends’. After the final blessing we sang the song, ‘God is so Good’. This brought much joy as we energetically made our gestures to it.
During our Agape a special presentation was made to Deacon Robert as a mark of thanks for his involvement with SPRED over the last few years.
A healthy cake was also shared to celebrate Scott O’Hare’s upcoming birthday.
PROPOSED FUTURE EVENTS
Look out for a PRAISE Session coming soon!
We hope to spred some fun by organising an exciting bowling outing during the Summer. More details will be provided as it is organised.
Our AGM will be held in June, with a date yet to be confirmed.
We also intend to arrange a sunny (hopefully) Summer walk where our Friends can enjoy some time together in the great outdoors!
FRIENDS CORNER
This section of the Newsletter is especially for our Friends. Let the SPRED Family know your good news or just something you wish to share with us all. We will include birthday wishes, competitions and possibly even a short profile.
You can do this by emailing the office or speaking with Hugh about anything you think the Friends and wider community might be interested in!
This month we would like to feature our Friend Representative Scott O’Hare. He is a Friend in our Ayr, Monday Night Group. He celebrates his birthday on Wednesday 13th March . . . so happy birthday Scott! He is a busy chap, which sees him volunteering in the Ayr Shelter Charity Shop as well as hosting a radio show each Sunday between Noon and 2pm on Ayr Hospital Radio. Why not tune in and give it a listen!
We look forward to contacting you all again with our new edition of the newsletter in April.
‘Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.’
‘Where charity and love are, God is there.’
SPRED GALLOWAY 