BUMPER NEWSLETTER – SEPTEMBER 2026
It has been a while since we put out a Newsletter due to a variety of issues.
KEEPING UP TO DATE WITH ALL THINGS SPRED
Rather than waiting on the newsletter to land in your inbox, why not visit our website? Our News Page is regularly updated so visiting once every week or two is highly recommended if you want to keep up to date with all things SPRED.
We also post a lot of information on our Facebook Page, so please make sure to FOLLOW us!
END OF 2025 CATCH UP
The end of last year was as busy as ever with the following events:
Mass and Party on Sunday 30 November, our Advent Service was held on Thursday 4 December and our Annual Carol Singing took place on Wednesday 17 December. Full details were included in both our Website News Pages and Facebook posting.
MASS – THURSDAY 5 FEBRUARY
Our Chaplain Fr Philip Kitchen said Mass for all the Ayr Groups on Thursday 5 February in St Margaret’s Church Hall at 7 pm.
An invitation was issued to the following people:
- Members of our other Diocesan Groups in Kilmarnock and St John’s in Stevenson.
- Family and friends of the members of our Ayr Groups.
- Anyone who sees themselves as a friend of SPRED, including past members of groups.
ZIPLINE FUNDRAISING EVENT – SATURDAY 14 MARCH
SCOTT O’HARE – FRIEND MEMBER OF SPRED
SCOTT O’HARE – MAN OF DERRING-DO
Scott O’Hare took part in a Zipline Fundraising Event, and it took around an hour with a short training session beforehand.
We raised over £1,000 from this event. A massive thank you to everyone who sponsored him. In a special way we thank the many parishioners who were very generous in their financial support for this event.
He thoroughly enjoyed the experience so much that he is already planning the event for next year.
Scot had a ball and here is what he thought of the experience: “As Michael and I watched some other people doing the Zipline experience I thought to myself what am I going to put myself through. I was given some training beforehand and that eased my mind a little bit. However, when I started the experience itself, I did feel like George of the Jungle, swinging from Tree to Tree. It was brilliant. When I finished, I simply wanted to do it all again.”
Scott of the Jungle is now more determined than ever to repeat this Zipline experience next year.
AYR GROUP EXPERIENCES
We celebrated several services and Masses led by Fr Philip Kitchen who was appointed our Chaplain last September.
These were always well attended and as well as members from all our Groups other people attended including family members, support workers and ex members. A big thank you to Fr Philip, to everyone who took part in any of these Masses and Services and those who provided the Agape.
RECONCILIATION SERVICE – THURSDAY 19 MARCH
Our Symbolic Object was a statue of Praying Hands Everyone was invited to come out and place their hands on the praying hands Statue and make their own prayer as some quiet music was played. Our SPRED letter candles were lit and placed in front of the Praying Hands.
The Table of God’s Word was prepared as quiet music was played AND THEN We then had a Liturgy of the Word. Several members of our groups took an active part in reading, doing mime and gestures. Everyone joined in making the gestures to the response to the Psalm: Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have sinned.
The message that was delivered to us all was: Jesus says to you, “I want to forgive your sins”.
Examination of Conscience where we considered how we have fallen short in our Love of God, Others and ourselves.
Fr Philip came to the front of the hall and people processed out to him. In another moving moment everyone answered two simple questions: Are you sorry for your sins? Do you want to live and love as a Friend of God? He then absolved them from their sins.
We all said an Our Father together as our penance, shared the peace of Jesus with each other and ended with the final blessing by Fr Philip.
CREATED TO BELONG CONFERENCE – SATURDAY 23 MAY
SPRED Galloway was involved in hosting a Day Conference entitled Created to Belong. We worked as a junior partner with a few other groups. These included two groups from the Church of Scotland namely: Prospects Across Scotland and Reachout Together. The other group is called Through the Roof. The Church of Scotland made a substantial donation to help with the running expenses of the day.
The focus of the day was Celebrating Disability emphasising that everyone is made in the Image of God!
A whole variety of things happened throughout the day including: Worship, Speakers, Makaton, BSL, Craft, Drama, Storytelling, Music and Quiet Spaces as well as stalls offering resources and information about organisations, including SPRED.
The day was a great success with over 100 people attending. It was a pleasure to represent SPRED Galloway at this event.
SUMMER FAYRE STALL – 20.6.26
A special thank you to the small band of helpers who worked tirelessly throughout the day to ensure we raised some money. In fact we raised a total of £302.
It was a hive of activity as the following was set up:
Handprints – Helena
Tombola and Lucky Dips – Morag and Rosemary
Guess the Name of the Teddy – Hugh.
We were joined by some of our Friends: Scott, Margaret Rose and Jason who helped in a variety of ways throughout the day. Well done!
At the end of a very tiring day we packed up and headed home knowing that we had managed to raise enough money to keep this event on our annual fund raising calendar.
SUMMER EVENT – SATURDAY 8 AUGUST 2026
Our Summer Party and Mass event was held on Saturday 9 August in St Ann’s Parish Hall and then Church.
PARTY AND AGAPE – 1.30 TO 3.00 PM
Our party began and ended with some singing from a number of star turns. We had individual songs and a couple of duets. We had Hugh from one of the Ayr groups giving us an Irish classic song. Marie and Morag leading what turned into a singalong. Billy and his mum Denise gave us a blast of Karaoke.
Most of the dancing was interactive in nature including renditions of Agadoo, I am the Music Man and the Hokey Cokey.
One of our most popular party games is pass the parcel which was keening contested with young John winning out in the end. Everyone was desperate to win the prize of a Hug Monster!
COMMUNITY CUPPA AND SINGING
As 3 pm approached we were due to join the parishioners for a cup of tea but there was no room in the Hall. As people had a cup of something and another light snack, we moved into some community singing. It was exclusively Hymns to help prepare us for the Mass at 4 pm. We began with the more joyful Shine Jesus Shine and then went onto some more quieter Hymns finishing up with All that I am.
MASS
We then went through to the Church to join the parishioners for the 4 pm Vigils Mass. Some of our group members took part in the procession of gifts.Once Mass had finished we all went back through to the Hall to gather our stuff before heading home. What a wonderful day it had been!
FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES – SEE WEBSITE DONATIONS PAGE
JUST GIVING
SPRED Galloway are registered with and trust JustGiving as a donation platform for our charity. You can donate to us via JustGiving using this QR Code or button below. Please make sure, if you would not like to give a tip to JustGiving, that you select the £0 tip option when prompted.
EASYFUNDRAISING
It works like this: you sign up, you pledge to the charity of your choice ie SPRED, and then when you go online shopping, you either go through their website, download their app, or download their browser extension.
(When you do your online shopping through easyfundraising, if company has signed up for it, whoever you are shopping with donates some money to SPRED at no cost to you!)
Easyfundraising is working just great, we’ve already got some money from our wonderful donators!
Check out the website called easyfundraising.org.uk
Dates (And Places) For Your Diary
Ecumenical Service- Sunday 20th September, 3pm, Our Lady Of Mount Carmel
Commissioning Mass- Thursday 24th September, 7pm, St. Margaret’s Church Hall
Look out for the forthcoming date for the AGM, which will happen during the week beginning Monday 12th October. If you’ve any thoughts on a preferable day or time during the way, please let us know.
SPRED GALLOWAY 