The South Yorkshire branch was very active throughout 2007. In May, it joined in an Orthodox celebration of the divine liturgy and a pilgrimage to Harpham in East Yorkshire, birthplace of St John of Beverley, who became Bishop of Hexham in 687, being later translated to York as Archbishop in 705, from which he retired in 714, dying in 721. He founded a minster at Beverly, the present building being constructed around his tomb. After the Orthodox eucharist at Harpham, the party travelled to Beverley where they heard the Minster choir rehearsing for evensong in this beautiful setting.

After this, five new members joined the Society.

In the Autumn, there were no less than four events.

In September we joined the Orthodox pilgrimage to Lastingham in North Yorkshire, to celebrate ‘The Nativity of Our Lady’. A monastery was founded there on the edge of the Moors, in 654, by St Cedd. A leaflet was kindly provided by our Chairman outlining the Divine Liturgy, which proved to be very useful to the members of our group of 16. In addition, the Vicar, Fr Ferguson, welcomed us and spoke briefly about the history of the Crypt and the Church of St Mary. We later travelled to nearby Pickering in superb weather, where members relaxed in various ways. Some visited an interesting ‘open day’ exhibition in the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, and to see the famous wall paintings of the 15th century, now fully restored. The return journey was enlivened by enthusiastic singing of hymns of Our Lady, and the reciting of the Rosary.

In October, a group of 14 made a pilgrimage to the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Egmanton near Tuxford, and just off the A1. This was led by Fr Kevin Smith, and attended by almost 100 pilgrims.

The Liturgy included The Angelus, Solemn Mass and Sermon. After lunch provided by the ladies of the village, we followed on with a solemn Magnificat, a procession into the village, and Benediction in the parish church and Shrine of our Lady, to conclude a most enjoyable ecumenical pilgrimage.

Also in October, we were invited to a talk in Sheffield entitled ‘Mary Grace and Hope in Christ’. This was given by Bishop Malcolm MacMahon of the RC Diocese of Nottingham, and he gave a stimulating insight into progress and the problems of ARCIC, of which he is a member. After the talk, group discussions followed by a Plenary Session, completed an excellent, informative and lively event. Bishop John Rawsthorne of the Diocese of Hallam, who chaired the meeting, had previously welcomed us and made mention of ESBVM before the talk. We made a number of ecumenical contacts, at this gathering.

Our AGM was held in November at the Orthodox Church of Saints Columba and Kentigern, in Edlington, Doncaster. Fr Dennis, our Chairman, led us as we prayed the Society’s Office. Our officers presented reviews on previous events, on our Finances (healthy), and on the input of a small ‘steering group’ which had been set up to recommend future Branch Strategy with particular regard for membership and activities. One early recommendation was to print a ‘Membership Leaflet’ more suited to Branch needs and local requirements. This has now been implemented, and has proved useful in publicising the Society, and in recruiting new members.

Our Officers were re-elected for another year, after which there was a short break for refreshments.

Our Chairman then gave an interesting talk on ‘The Mystical unity of the Church’, with emphasis on what we should be doing, and how we might work towards the unity for which Christ prayed. This was followed by a discussion on the current problems, with the view expressed that unity would only really move forward when it to become stronger at local church level. The meeting closed after over two hours of enthusiastic participation by those who attended what was in effect, a comprehensive and positive review of our Branch and its activities.

In the second week of Advent, we joined with the Mothers’ Union at St Oswald’s for an Advent devotion Beyond the Corridors of Grace, produced by our Treasurer, Merelina. This was a delightful service of readings, prayers and hymns, supported by organ, cello and piano music. Over fifty people attended, the Society being well represented. Over £100 was raised for a mother and baby home in Ghana.

Our plans for events in 2008 are as follows

Monday January 21st – Dunscroft St Edwin’s Church. Near Doncaster

To celebrate the ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’. We have an invitation from Father Alan Watson and our members at St Edwin’s to join them for Mass at 7.00pm. Refreshments afterwards and an opportunity to meet members and other interested parishioners. Rev. Fr. Richard Power, Vicar of Moorends, will preach.

February – Sheffield. 26 years under Mary’s mantle. Talk by Sister Ruth Bleakley OCV. Details later.

Tuesday March 11th – Mass at 12.45 including the Liturgy of Anointing, at St Marie’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Sheffield. This will be followed by refreshments, then a talk and short tour of the cathedral. This should be of historical interest, both marian and ecumenical.

Saturday May 10th – Pilgrimage to Mount Grace Priory and The Lady Chapel at Osmotherley in North Yorks. The Society Office in the restored Monks’ Cell at Mount Grace. At 12 Noon. Vigil Mass at the Lady Chapel 3.30pm. Refreshments afterwards. Tea in Thirsk on return. A special Invitation will be sent to individual members residing in North Yorkshire. We thank Fr Hilary Alflatt for setting up this event.

Saturday July 19th – Pilgrimage to Crowland Abbey near Peterborough.

August – Pilgrimage to Egmanton near Tuxford. Shrine of Our Lady.

September – Pilgrimage to Lastingham in North Yorks. Orthodox Eucharist. Visit to Pickering afterwards.

October – Sheffield. Talk, ‘The Methodist approach to Mary’. Provisional.
November – Branch AGM. To be arranged.

Tuesday December 16th – 2.00pm. Advent Service, St Oswald’s. Abbeydale Road, Sheffield. Invitation from the Mothers Union and our members at St. Oswald’s Anglican Church.

In January, your newsletter Editor received an interesting letter from Padraic Golden of the Dublin Branch. In it he gives an account of how the recent large influx of immigrants from eastern Europe has brought many more Orthodox into the area. Two additional Orthodox churches have been founded. The Russian Orthodox have taken use of a vacant church at Harold’s Cross and, more recently, the Rumanian Orthodox have made an arrangement to use Christ Church (Church of Ireland), Leeson Park, Ballsbridge. It was there that a big service was held for Unity Week, the keynote address being given by Bishop Brian Farrell of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity in Rome. There is a also a vibrant Coptic Orthodox Church at Bray.

The Dublin branch has kept in touch with these developments and has arranged visits to them. Clergy or lay representatives of the communities concerned have given talks about their particular community, followed by a guided tour of the church and giving particular attention to the icons.

On 4 December, in the Upper Room of St Thomas, Canterbury, Mrs Tina Hamilton spoke about apparitions of Our Lady and Pilgrimages. She spoke about her own experiences of pilgrimage, including in her presentation Aylesford (where one of our own members had been privileged to see an apparition of our Lady in 2005), Walsingham and Banneux in Belgium where, in 1933, our Lady appeared to Mariette Beco. On a very cold January day, Our Lady asked Mariette to wash in the spring, to say the Rosary and to have a small chapel built. The spring is said to have healing powers. Tina also talked about Assisi, Fatima and Paris, where St Catherine Laboure received several apparitions. Tina’s talk was given with great enthusiasm.

At our February 2007 meeting, Miss Jennifer Forster spoke about her pilgrimage to Turkey in a group led by the Bishop of Dover. After flying to Istanbul, they went to Kayseri in Cappadocia and visited the rock churches and monasteries. They also went to Myra, birth place of St Nicholas (Santa Claus!) and then back to Istanbul to see Hagia Sophia, the great basilica built by Constantine and rebuilt by Justinian. Every church visited had icons of the mother of the Lord.

At our March meeting, on 26, Fr. Tony Cassidy gave a profound talk about the celebration of the Annunciation. He stressed the significance of the Visitation which brought together the two mothers of the two special babies. Mary did not visit Elizabeth just to care for her in her pregnancy but to confirm the coming miracle of the birth of God’s Son. Fr. Tony then stressed that, according to Scripture, the true relatives of Jesus are all those who hear and do God’s word. Mary thus becomes the model disciple as well as the model human mother.

On Tuesday 23 January, several members accepted the kind invitation to attend a mass with the intention of praying for the unity of all Christians. This invitation came from Fr. Alan Watson , vicar of St Edwin’s, Dunscroft, near Doncaster.

The beautifully celebrated Mass was attended by about forty people. In addition to Fr. Alan’s congregation, representatives were present from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Methodist churches. After Mass, there was a time for fellowship and an excellent buffet supper.

On Sat. 24 March members gathered at St Winefride’s Church in Lymm for a talk on shrines to our Lady, followed by refreshments and the Office. We looked at the major shrines in this country, continental Europe and America. We saw that there were three important facets to the apparitions of Mary.

Their meaning in the life of Mary. They are part of the great things that God has done for her. She who has been raised high by our Lord wishes all her children to be raised high. Where there is a need, where there is a cry for light and guidance and for faith and healing, where there are receptive souls, there it seems Mary appears. She comes to encourage , to correct and to share her blessings with her children.

Their meaning in the life of the Church. Initially, the church authorities stand back and wait, not through scepticism, but through an awareness that error never bears good fruit. The Church having made a positive judgement, the shrines take their place within the life of the Church as part of the unfolding of God’s bounty and grace to us.

Their meaning in the life of the Christian. Mary’s message is always the same. Come, renew your faith, do penance, reaffirm your dedication to God and pray. At all these holy places it is not possible to draw near to Mary without also drawing close to her Son, our Lord. If we come with that childlike faith that we see in the visionaries, if we come with hearts that are both vulnerable and trusting, then Mary can show us her Son, the risen, ascended and glorified Lord, in whose glory she now shares.

The London branch continues to meet on the first Wednesday of each month at St Magnus the Martyr, thanks to the kind hospitality of Fr. Philip Warner, the parish priest. This year, we have had a couple of talks, one by Alan Watson on the church in Armenia, and one by Amanda Hill on Cardinal Newman. Otherwise, we continue to discuss a chapter of the New Testament. We have just begun St Luke’s Gospel. When our day coincides with Ash Wednesday or a feast we visit St Mary Abchurch, another church under Fr. Philip’s care for an Anglican eucharist. The meeting normally concludes with the Guild Service of the Salve Regina and a shared packed lunch. Anyone on the London area on a first Wednesday is welcome to join us.

Our AGM was held on the 31st October at St Oswald’s Anglican Church in Sheffield. Our secretary, John Harrison, reported on the past year’s activities which included two pilgrimages to the Shrine of Our Lady at Egmanton, support for a pilgrimage to Ladyewell, and two presentations given by Sr. Ruth, on ‘Holy Grandmothers’, and the Shrines at Walsingham. John confirmed his retirement as our Secretary for 18 years.

Our re-elected Chairman, Fr. Dennis, thanked John warmly for his many years of work for the Branch and then made a presentation to him on behalf of the members. The meeting closed with the Ecumenical Office of Mary.

Refreshments were then served, courtesy of our lady members, and we enjoyed a pleasant ecumenical chat. With 18 members plus Father Alan Watson (Anglican) who has just joined us, we hope to continue our activities, and have already made an excellent start.

A group of 11 accepted an invitation to join the congregation at Ss. Columba & Kentigern Orthodox Church, Doncaster, where we had Vespers, followed by Mass, to celebrate the Presentation of the Mother of God in the Temple. We enjoyed the rich orthodox Liturgy (some for the first time), and the warm welcome and hospitality extended to us. We returned home fortified by a lovely buffet, after a holy and spiritually uplifting evening. Grateful thanks to our hosts.

The first of our programme of events for the new year takes place on the 23rd January 2007, in the’ Week of Prayer for Unity’. We have been invited to join the congregation at St Edwin’s Anglican Church, Dunscroft, near Doncaster, where the Vicar, Rev. Alan Watson, will celebrate Mass at 7.30pm. In addition, we have set out a full programme of activities through to September 2007, details of which may be had from the Secretary or the Chairman.

The Canterbury Branch has, as usual, had an excellent series of meetings. On 18 Sept. Mrs Patty Baxter gave us a talk about Hope for people in need. She spoke about her work with orphans in Rumania and about other tragic situations. She used poetry to illustrate her points and her poem on hope sums up much of her thinking.

Hope is knowing that there is love
It is trust in tomorrow.
It is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises.
In the midst of a gale at sea
It is to see that someone understands you.
As long as there is still hope
There will also be prayer
And God will be holding you in his hands.

On 25 Sept. in the Upper Room at St Thomas’ Church, Miss Barbara Markham spoke about the Hidden Life of Our Lady. Tina Hamilton preceded the talk with a beautiful rendition of the Magnificat. Barbara reminded us that 25 Sept is the beginning of the Jewish New Year. She played a recording of the Shofar which is sounded on that day as a wake-up call to the Jewish People. Ten days later comes the Solemn Feast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and Barbara played the Kol Nidre which is familiar to all Jews and would have been so to Mary. Barbara then recited the Kaddish which is prayer for the dead. Mary would have learnt it and maybe still says it for all the souls in Purgatory. Barbara talked about other aspects of Mary’s upbringing, stressing that she would have spoken Aramaic as her mother tongue and would have learnt Hebrew as a second language. Her life would have been that of any wife and mother of the time, involving such tasks as fetching water from the well. The deepest and profoundest aspect of her life was, of course, her relationship with God as a woman totally possessed by the Holy Spirit. The meeting closed with the playing of a Hebrew passage from the prophet Isaiah, entitled Lem’an Tzion, Because I love Zion.

Visit to St Augustine’s Abbey, Ramsgate
This took place on Saturday, 12 August. The day was intended as a ‘day with Mary’ and was so well attended that there was standing room only for some poor souls. The day started with the Angelus and the crowning of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, placed on a portable float in preparation for a procession. It had been raining heavily but, fortunately, the rain largely held off once the procession, along an exposed cliff path, began. The sun soon came out and shone till we got back to the Abbey when we got another deluge. Back in the church, we sang the Litany of Our lady and mass followed, celebrated by Fr. John Seddon, OSB. After lunch, there was another outdoor procession, this time of the Blessed Sacrament. This was followed by exposition and a fascinating sermon on Mary form Fr George Roth, FI. After a short period of adoration, he led us in a meditation on the Passion.

There will be no January meeting at St Magnus. On Feb. 7, Alan Watson will talk about a pilgrimage to Armenia. In April, Amanda Hill will talk about the progress of the cause for Newman’s canonisation. Otherwise, we shall continue with our bible discussions.

The Cornwall Branch held a meeting on 29 July, addressed by Fr Jonathan Bielawski on ‘Medjurgorje, a personal impression’. The Branch has established regular contact with the Cornwall Brach of the Fellowship of St Alban & St Sergius.