Parish Groups

​Servers

At St Anne's and St Joseph's, any young person who has made his or her first communion and comes to Mass weekly is welcome to become a server. Servers help in the celebration of the Mass by assisting the priest.

Musicians and Singers

At St Anne's, the main Sunday Mass is sung as are Masses on Holy Days of Obligation, thanks in large part to the work of our organist and singers. Rehearsals are usually held before 10.30am Mass on Sunday.

At St Joseph's, we have an organist who helps us sing hymns and parts of the Mass, occasionally assisted by a guitarist or two

Readers

At St Anne's and St Joseph's, there are readers who proclaim the word of God and lead the prayers of the faithful at Mass.

Flowers

At St Anne's and St Joseph's, a band of helpers at each church keep the churches well decorated for worship with beautiful flowers.

Cleaners

At St Anne's and St Joseph's, invaluable but usually invisible, our cleaners work hard to maintain the interiors of our buildings

Childrens' Liturgy

At St Anne's, during the 10.30am Mass the younger members of the congregation receive teaching approriate to their ages while the adults remain in church. Children return to take part in the offertory and the rest of Mass.

Catchesis: Learning about Catholicism and preparing for the Sacraments 

Every year we prepare children and adults in separate groups according to need for the sacraments or to become Catholics. First Holy Communion for children usually happens in June with classes beginning before the previous Christmas. Adults who wish to become Catholics are usually received into the Church at Easter, after a programme of preparation that begins in early autumn. Anyone who is interested in knowing more is encouraged to come to Mass to see what Catholics do. Please speak to the priest.

Ministry to the sick

The sick are an important part of parish life. The priest and Ministers of the Eucharist will take Holy Communion to those who cannot come to Mass.

Medjuorje prayer group

At St Joseph's, this lay-led prayer group seeks the intercession of Our Lady for the Sick and Suffering, the dying and the dead, the world and the Church at its meeting once a month at St Joseph's, last Monday of the month at 7.00pm.

Pilgrimage

Every year there are opportunites to go on pilgrimage to Our Lady's shrines at Walsingham in Norfolk and to Lourdes in France. Every other year there are also opportunitues to go to holy places further afield. In recent years we have been to Rome (for St Peter and St Paul), Assisi (St Francis), Padua (St Anthony), Subiaco (St Benedict), Nettuno (St Maria Gorretti) and Fatima (Our Lady).

In October 2013 there was a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in the footsteps of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

The Clergy Training Fund

The parish has a representive for this diocesan charity which seeks to help fund the training of seminarians for the priesthood.

The APF

We support the work of the overseas missions through the "red boxes", a scheme administered by our parish APF organiser. APF stands for the Association  for the Propagation of the Faith