Hi everyone!
Lots of things to cover in the life of SPRED Galloway at the moment, so much so, that our Newsletter this month comes in two parts.
PILGRIM WALK EVENT
SPRED Galloway held two sponsored walks across Saturday the 18th of May in Ayr and Sunday the 19th of May in Prestwick. They coincided with 6pm mass in St. Margaret’s, Ayr and St. Quivox, Prestwick respectively.
Ayr’s walk on the 18th saw a stroll starting from Ayr beach, through the town and onwards to St. Margaret’s Church. Prestwick’s, on the 19th, started on the esplanade at Prestwick beach and continue along the main street, eventually arriving at St. Quivox. A great walk was had by all and the donations we received were incredible generous and appreciated.
This event was a wonderful way to spend a couple of lovely days in the sun with our friends!
AYR/ST MARGARET’S GROUP MASS – 8.3.24
This was held in St Margaret’s Church Hall on Thursday 7 March. Members of all 3 of the Ayr Groups were present.
Our celebrant was Fr Stephen Latham from St Quivox Church in Prestwick. We wish him well in his new appointment.
SYMBOLIC OBJECTS
We spent a few moments reflecting on our Symbolic Objects of Bread and Grapes in relation to our celebration of Mass.
HYMNS/SONGS
As usual we began with Companions on the Journey and ended with Shine Jesus Shine.
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Group members set up the Table of God’s Word accompanied with some reflective music. We used a very poignant song as our reponsorial ‘psalm’ called 10,000 Reasons. The response is worth sharing here: ”Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul. I’ll worship Your holy name.
AGAPE
We finished as usual with our group agape.
This report finishes with a reflection on the mass by HELENA BURGOYNE of the Monday Evening Group.
‘It was a privilege to gather at St Margaret’s Hall with Fr Stephen for a special Mass, celebrated just for members and friends of our local SPRED family. In John’s Gospel reading we heard the story of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. In the time of Jesus it was the duty of house servants to wash the dusty feet of guests. However, although he was seen as a teacher and master, Jesus took on the subordinate role of servant by performing this work. In a meaningful gesture, Hugh embodied the humbling actions of Jesus by removing his jacket and tying it round his waist like an apron to emphasise the lowly task. Along with the words of Scripture read out by Fr Stephen, this was a powerful reminder of the value and significance of serving each other.’
Pentacost Pilgrim Walks
Members of the SPRED Galloway Family took part in a Sponsored Walk to raise funds for SPRED.
How fitting it was that the weather was blazing hot over the Pentecost Sunday weekend and believe me when I tell you that our new SPRED Hoodies are warm!
HOODIES AND T SHIRTS
You will be hearing more about our new
T Shirt and Hoodie range very soon, so keep your eye out for that in our News section.
SATURDAY 18 MAY – PILGRIM WALK 1
A group of 5 of our local SPRED Family assembled outside Pirate Pete’s beside Ayr low Green. The sun was splitting the sky and after the obligatory group photo we headed on a lovely pilgrim’s stroll to
St Margaret’s to attend the 6 pm Vigil Mass. We strolled through the Gardens in front of the South Ayrshire Council buildings, passed the Bus Station and headed along Sandgate. We crossed over Ayr Bridge and made our way around King Street. We arrived in plenty of time so we headed into the Church Hall to cool down and have a drink of diluting juice. We were joined at Mass by a couple of other people, making it 7 members of the SPRED Family that took some part in this event. Fr David gave us a lovely welcome and we took part in the procession of gifts. After Mass we handed out some flyers encouraging people to find out more about SPRED and even volunteer their talents. We were allowed to have a collection outside of the Church and raised £77. A big SPRED thank you to Fr David and the Parishioners of St Margaret’s for their warm welcome and generosity.
SUNDAY 19 MAY – PILGRIM WALK 2
The next daywe did it all over again! Seven members of our local SPRED Family met up this time on Prestwick Esplanade across from the Children’s Play Park. With the sun again splitting the sky we had another obligatory group photo. We headed this time along the esplanade and although we ignored the opportunity to have an ice cream at Mancini’s café a few of us availed ourselves of the toilet facilities. We were met at Prestwick Cross by another two people. We all then headed along the main street and finally turned up at St Quivox Road to reach St Quivox Church for the 6 pm Mass. We took refuge in the Church Hall to have some water and a wee rest before Mass and another member of our extended SPRED Family joined us for this, making 10 of us in total. Fr Stephen gave us another lovely welcome and also declared that the final hymn would be a SPRED favourite of Shine Jesus Shine. With little persuasion we joined in with gusto as it was sung at the end of Mass and contributed the odd clap and gestures to the chorus. After Mass we handed out some flyers encouraging people to find out more about SPRED and even volunteer their talents. We again were allowed to have a collection outside of the Church and we raised £87. A big SPRED thank you to Fr Stephen and the Parishioners of St Quivox’s for their warm welcome and generosity.
SPRED GALLOWAY 