3rd meeting – letter from Ben

Hi everyone,
I hope this letter finds you well. We’re moving into the last stages of our preparation for Lourdes and there are quite a few things that I need to tell you about in this letter.
Third preparation meeting

Our third meeting is this Sunday, 10^th June, at Holy Cross Catholic High School, Burgh Lane, Chorley. I am enclosing a map with this letter. This is a joint meeting with Coach 8 so the school will be an ideal venue to accommodate a large group of people. This meeting will be a good opportunity to meet the people on Coach 8, so please do your best to attend. There are quite a few things that we want to get through in the meeting so we have extended the meeting by 30 minutes so that it will run from 1.30pm – 4.00pm. Please, please try to be punctual for this meeting, as we will be starting promptly at 1.30pm. Aileen and Jenny, leaders of the Lourdes music group, will be coming along to teach us some of the hymns that are being used during the pilgrimage so bring your best singing voice!

Attendance at meetings

I have been asked once again to remind you that attendance at meetings is essential. It is part of the commitment that you agreed to when you applied for a place on the pilgrimage. I appreciate that this forthcoming meeting is in the middle of the exam period, but we are only asking you to give up a couple of hours once a month. Fr. Stephen says that no-one should miss more than one preparation meeting because all members of the coach have the right to meet you and get to know you before the pilgrimage begins. If you have not been at the previous meetings then it is very important that you attend the next two. If you work on Sundays please try to re-arrange your shifts so that you can be there. Sorry if that sounds a bit strict and harsh but we do take pilgrimage preparation very seriously. The final coach preparation meeting will be on Sunday 15^th July at St. Teresa’s Parish Centre, Penwortham from 2pm – 4pm.

Final payment

Thanks for sending your final payment of £165. However, there are a handful of people who still owe this payment. If applies to you, please send a cheque, made payable to ‘Lourdes Coach 5‘, to my address.
Quiz sheets

At the last meeting we gave you 20 quiz sheets to sell with the option of photocopying them and selling more. This has been designed as a fundraiser for the coach and for you. We ask you to sell at least 20 for £1 each. We then ask you to give us half the money (£10) for our central funds and the other half you keep for your own personal fundraising. You should keep any additional money you raise. Please can you make sure that you collect the completed quiz sheets and bring them to Sunday’s meeting where they will be marked. Please can you also bring along the money you have raised. We really do need your full support with this fundraiser and obviously the more quizzes you sell, the more money you will raise for yourselves. If you were absent from the last meeting, and did not receive any quiz sheets, please ring me immediately and I will get some off in the post to you.

Catenian forms

We also gave out Catenian forms at the last meeting. It is well worth you applying for funding from this organization. If you did not get a form then see Richard Adamson on Sunday.

Liturgy meeting

This is quite short notice but there is a liturgy planning meeting this Thursday, 7^th June, at St. Mary’s, Lowe House, St Helens, between 7pm and 9pm. The meeting is to plan the two youth masses that take place in Lourdes. Representatives from Coaches 1-4 are planning the opening youth mass while coaches 5-8 will plan the final youth mass. I am looking for about 3 or 4 people from Coach 5 to attend this meeting. The youth masses in Lourdes have a vibrant and exciting liturgy so this is a great way for you to be involved in readings, music, drama etc. If you are interested please will you give me a ring straight away. Thanks.

Musicians meeting

There will be a meeting on Sunday 8^th July at St. Mary’s, Lowe House, St. Helens from 1pm to 4pm. If you play an instrument, or are a good singer, and would like to be part of the Lourdes music group then please go along to the practice. Could you also ring me to let me know that you are attending as I could do with knowing how many musicians we have on our coach.
Parents’ meeting

Please can you tell your parents that there will be a meeting on Wednesday 20^th June at 7.30pm at Holy Cross Catholic High School, Burgh Lane, Chorley. I am enclosing a letter for your parents with this letter.
Medical forms

Also enclosed with this letter is a medical form for you to complete. You can either hand these in on Sunday or put them back in the post to me. Please make sure you’ve got an E111 European medical insurance card. We plan to collect these cards, as well as passports, at the final preparation meeting in July.

‘LIFE AND SOUL’ – the summer festival

Preparations are well under way for this summer festival on Sunday 1^st July. It is for young people over the age of 15. I am enclosing a leaflet with this letter. I will have tickets to sell for this event at Sunday’s meeting. They are £5 each and I am hoping that there will be a great response from Coach 5. It does sound like a great day. Richard Charnock and I have decided to run a coach from the Lancashire area. We’ll let you know on Sunday how much the coach will cost but I am not expecting it to be too much though it will depend upon numbers. Please make a real effort to attend this festival. It’s a great way to get ready for Lourdes and I know a lot of work has gone into planning it. Maria and Luke from the Animate Youth Ministry Team are coming to Sunday’s meeting to say a few words about it. I do know that each coach needs to provide a 5-a-side football team. If you would like to be in the team please give me a ring.
Pilgrimage theme

In the next two meetings we will be reflecting upon this year’s pilgrimage theme: ‘Be reconciled with God’. Coach 5 has a tradition of having a fancy-dress theme night (loosely based on the pilgrimage theme!) and we have gone with Matthew’s suggestion of ‘Pirates of Penance’ for this year. What this means is you need to start making arrangements for your pirate costume.

Website

Don’t forget to log onto www.coach5.co.uk to see information on Lourdes, maps, discussions etc. If you have any items you would like included on the website please email them to me. Once again, thanks to Steve for his hard work in maintaining this.
I think that’s everything for now! I warned you that there was a lot! I look forward to seeing you at Sunday’s meeting.

Ben McMullen