50 YEARS OF GOOD NEIGHBOURS IN BISHOPS WALTHAM
On 5th September, many past and current Bishops Waltham Care Group volunteers gathered in St Peter’s Church Hall to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the group activities in Bishops Waltham.
A collection of so many who genuinely care for their neighbours is most humbling. These people, whether they knew it or not have been, and many still are, following the teaching of St Ignatius when he referred, “to labour and not to seek reward . . . . . .”, although an analysis of the reasons given for volunteering by those attending varied from ‘wishing to help the community (90%)’ to ‘being bullied into it (2%)’ 🙂
The core activities of the group have remained the provision of lunches (over 100 lunches/wk) and social interaction through the Lunch Clubs, and transportation of residents to medical appointments throughout Hampshire, many present day groups such as the BW Minibus Group and Gateway Club also emanated from the original Care Group. For all these initiatives, Bishops Waltham will always be indebted to the vision and energy of Helen Hills and Sandy Kara, who started the Care Group, and it was with huge pleasure that these ladies were able to join in the celebration at the Church Hall. Thank you, Helen and Sandy.
The entire two-hour lunch was filled with chatting and laughter as old friendships were rekindled and more recent members discovered the traditions that have evolved to mould todays Bishops Waltham Care Group. If you think you’d like to join the BW Care Group, please phone 01489 893140 for more details.
