The Men's Group Communion Set




The Men`s Group was established at St Faith`s some 30 years ago and over the years it has attracted members from many different backgrounds who have a number of things in common, including a love of St Faith`s and their fellow members of the group. It is not easy to define what makes the Men`s Group special to its members and this is not the place to try, except to say that we all get on as well together as any brothers could: probably better than any brothers could.

Over the years members have come and gone. Some have left the area and can no longer attend meetings, though they are still de facto members of the group. Sadly, over the years, several of our number have died and we still remember them. Two years ago during our annual retreat in Yorkshire it was suggested that we should have our own communion set and the names of our deceased members should be engraved on the communion set. It should be pointed out that the Sunday morning Eucharist forms a very important part, probably the most important part, of our weekend retreat.

Fr Charles Billington, now chaplain to our group, offered to donate a communion set which he no longer used. This was gratefully accepted and when the set was collected we organised to have the names of deceased members of the Men`s Group engraved on the plate which holds the communion wafers.

The names engraved around the rim of the paten are:
John Taylor
Doug Taylor
John Stone
John Vincent
George Goodwin
Archie Pattison

This communion set was used for the first time during our Yorkshire retreat in February 2004 and the Eucharist that Sunday was a very moving experience as remembered our former members. Sadly since then we have lost another of our number, with the death of John F. Taylor in December 2004. His name has now been engraved on the plate and the Eucharist in Yorkshire on Sunday 30th January 2005 will be another moving time when we fondly remember him and our other “brothers” no longer with us.

Denis Griffiths
January, 2005
 

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