Latest News from the LAMB Community
We are up and galloping. We are a community of four: Owen, Caroline,
Michael and Benet. A fifth young woman has expressed an interest and we
have responded with an invitation to "come and see". Caroline was in
charge of a house of prayer and acted as a chaplain/counsellor one day
a week to one of the schools; she has lots of local contacts; Michael
is the equivalent of the volunteers at Kintbury. He is keen to be
involved with the students and is a superb musician. We hope to find
someone of similar age to offer peer support.
The LAMB group has been wonderfully helpful and supportive. They really are a dedicated group. Some students with Kintbury experience also wish to be associated with our community and work. Father Robert Rainbow, Catholic Chaplain at the University of the West of England (UWE) is also a keen supporter of LAMB.
We began with four days in St Brendan's 6th form College for their enrolment days and managed to meet nearly all of the 600 new students. We gave out a leaflet, explained who we were and outlined the activities and experiences we would be able to offer in conjunction with the Chaplaincy team.
We visit St Brendan's 6th Form College on Mondays, St Bede's School, Lawrence Weston on Wednesdays, St Thomas More, Horefield on Thursdays and St Bernadette, Whitchurch on Fridays, all of them in Bristol.
We have already been approached by the parish in Clevedon to help with a post-confirmation youth group once a month on Monday evenings, and to act as Eucharistic Ministers.
We have tried to engage with students and staff in all four places. Teachers and other staff at the schools have been extremely welcoming and have gone out of their way to make it easy for us to be involved. So far we have attended (and explained ourselves) at assemblies and staff briefings, have organised staff prayer and staff Mass; have led a beginning of year service for the 6th form college; have taken groups of students for reflection modules (Pilgrimage, and Justice issues for Racial Justice Sunday), have gone into classes; have run lunch time chaplaincy activities; invited students to morning prayer before school; have helped to run Year 7 retreat days in St Bede's and St Thomas More.
We have met with the wider LAMB group on four or five occasions. We are booked to do a day retreat for Cathsoc at UWE and have been approached to help the Quaker Chaplaincy team at the university on one of their reflection sessions. Some of the team have also helped students with difficulties, and given them support on a one-to-one basis.
We have met with a number of students who had been on retreat to Kintbury and who wish to continue that experience. One group of about 20 in St Bede's are really enthusiastic and intend meeting every Wednesday (the day we are there). We have promise to support them. Two of the schools are taking groups to Kintbury in October. Michael has offered to go with them.
On our training days we went into detail about each different establishment. They are very different in size, clientele, social background and ethos. The 6th Form College is about 40% Catholic and is probably our greatest challenge; St Thomas More is an inner city school with lots of life and the most diverse ethnic mix, and probably about 40% Catholic; St Bede's is about 95% Catholic and has a reputation of being one of the "preferred" schools in Bristol. St Bernadette is a rich mixture: Caroline, who had worked there before, established a strong chaplaincy tradition which made our involvement so much easier. Lots of students turn up for the voluntary activities such as workshops and meditations. On Fridays over 50 youngsters come to the lunch time chaplaincy activities we organise. We are also able to give students in all the establishments the gift of time. We are pleased to be able to support so many really devoted staff in their care for the young people.
We have met as a community and drawn up various understandings about our life together. We worked on our prayer life and our own faith sharing; this latter comes naturally now. We continue to review on a regular basis what is effectively a Community Annual Programme, though without any real formality.
We are an open house and have received lots of guests - friends of members of the community, and LAMB members in particular. We have met with the Franciscan friars in the parish and the Mercy Sisters who live opposite the church, and members of staff have also visited for a meal in the evening.
Other "plans" include helping students develop the Millennium Wood at the 6th Form College; improving the wild garden at St Bernadette, and tending the garden of the local Maximilian Kolbe chapel close to St Thomas More.
The reality of the need is such that we could spend the whole week in any one of the schools. The present arrangement is a compromise with all of them. If the community increases in the future, it might be possible to "share" ourselves out and go to a school more than once in the week. This is perhaps running before we can walk!
Brother Benet
The LAMB Community’s address is 27a Dial Hill Road, Clevedon, BS21 7HL. Telephone number is 01275 872586. For more information please visit the website below or contact the Secretary, Mr Francis Bell, 8, Church Road, Horfield, Bristol, BS7 8SA. Email fran@hexamon.org.
Useful URL : http://www.lamb-dls.org.uk/
The LAMB group has been wonderfully helpful and supportive. They really are a dedicated group. Some students with Kintbury experience also wish to be associated with our community and work. Father Robert Rainbow, Catholic Chaplain at the University of the West of England (UWE) is also a keen supporter of LAMB.
We began with four days in St Brendan's 6th form College for their enrolment days and managed to meet nearly all of the 600 new students. We gave out a leaflet, explained who we were and outlined the activities and experiences we would be able to offer in conjunction with the Chaplaincy team.
We visit St Brendan's 6th Form College on Mondays, St Bede's School, Lawrence Weston on Wednesdays, St Thomas More, Horefield on Thursdays and St Bernadette, Whitchurch on Fridays, all of them in Bristol.
We have already been approached by the parish in Clevedon to help with a post-confirmation youth group once a month on Monday evenings, and to act as Eucharistic Ministers.
We have tried to engage with students and staff in all four places. Teachers and other staff at the schools have been extremely welcoming and have gone out of their way to make it easy for us to be involved. So far we have attended (and explained ourselves) at assemblies and staff briefings, have organised staff prayer and staff Mass; have led a beginning of year service for the 6th form college; have taken groups of students for reflection modules (Pilgrimage, and Justice issues for Racial Justice Sunday), have gone into classes; have run lunch time chaplaincy activities; invited students to morning prayer before school; have helped to run Year 7 retreat days in St Bede's and St Thomas More.
We have met with the wider LAMB group on four or five occasions. We are booked to do a day retreat for Cathsoc at UWE and have been approached to help the Quaker Chaplaincy team at the university on one of their reflection sessions. Some of the team have also helped students with difficulties, and given them support on a one-to-one basis.
We have met with a number of students who had been on retreat to Kintbury and who wish to continue that experience. One group of about 20 in St Bede's are really enthusiastic and intend meeting every Wednesday (the day we are there). We have promise to support them. Two of the schools are taking groups to Kintbury in October. Michael has offered to go with them.
On our training days we went into detail about each different establishment. They are very different in size, clientele, social background and ethos. The 6th Form College is about 40% Catholic and is probably our greatest challenge; St Thomas More is an inner city school with lots of life and the most diverse ethnic mix, and probably about 40% Catholic; St Bede's is about 95% Catholic and has a reputation of being one of the "preferred" schools in Bristol. St Bernadette is a rich mixture: Caroline, who had worked there before, established a strong chaplaincy tradition which made our involvement so much easier. Lots of students turn up for the voluntary activities such as workshops and meditations. On Fridays over 50 youngsters come to the lunch time chaplaincy activities we organise. We are also able to give students in all the establishments the gift of time. We are pleased to be able to support so many really devoted staff in their care for the young people.
We have met as a community and drawn up various understandings about our life together. We worked on our prayer life and our own faith sharing; this latter comes naturally now. We continue to review on a regular basis what is effectively a Community Annual Programme, though without any real formality.
We are an open house and have received lots of guests - friends of members of the community, and LAMB members in particular. We have met with the Franciscan friars in the parish and the Mercy Sisters who live opposite the church, and members of staff have also visited for a meal in the evening.
Other "plans" include helping students develop the Millennium Wood at the 6th Form College; improving the wild garden at St Bernadette, and tending the garden of the local Maximilian Kolbe chapel close to St Thomas More.
The reality of the need is such that we could spend the whole week in any one of the schools. The present arrangement is a compromise with all of them. If the community increases in the future, it might be possible to "share" ourselves out and go to a school more than once in the week. This is perhaps running before we can walk!
Brother Benet
The LAMB Community’s address is 27a Dial Hill Road, Clevedon, BS21 7HL. Telephone number is 01275 872586. For more information please visit the website below or contact the Secretary, Mr Francis Bell, 8, Church Road, Horfield, Bristol, BS7 8SA. Email fran@hexamon.org.
Useful URL : http://www.lamb-dls.org.uk/
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