Live Simply: 80th Award goes to Upminster Parish

Knitting group hats and scarves are proving popular

The 80th Livesimply award has been achieved by St Joseph's Parish in Upminster, Brentwood Diocese.

Two assessors - Ellen Teague of the Columbans and Colette Joyce, Co-ordinator of Westminster Justice and Peace - conducted an evaluation on 20 November with three members of parish coordinating team: Bernadette Tsocos (Co-ordinator), Mary-Anne Madden and Yvonne Dickens. All paid warm thanks to parish priest Fr John Tuohy for his support.

The parish began the Livesimply project in May 2018. We considered action to become a parish which not only took care of its own but reached out to the wider community. Parishioners were urged to review their lifestyles and consider what changes they could realistically make to live more simply. Many parishioners were already aware of the encyclical Laudato Si' and we used this as our guide. We also read widely from the words of Pope Francis and looked to role models both in the past and the present. Our weekly quotations in the parish newsletter have been taken from a wide range of cultures, creeds and religions, from the famous and the less so. Bidding prayers on the care of creation were also included at Mass.

The Livesimply campaign was launched at every Mass that same month. We spoke from the pulpit, gave out leaflets and met with parishioners. Each one took a pledge form and over the next few weeks signed up to undertake certain actions under the three Livesimply headings: Living simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor. A Livesimply '100 Ideas' Sheet was distributed and discussed. Pledges were assembled and to date more than 200 have been collected. We made a display of pledges at the back of the church - one from our younger parishioners and one from adults. The childrens' display was based on the 'Tree of Life' and the adults' one was a 'Road of Achievement'.

We also launched the Livesimply campaign in the local Catholic primary and secondary schools by conducting assemblies, working with classes and forming 'Green Teams' which would take responsibility for encouraging pupils and their families to live a simpler life in solidarity with those less fortunate and to protect the natural environment. We also asked the sixth form to encourage their local communities to live more simply. Sixth formers took a survey to every business in Upminster and presented the results at a sixth form assembly. Children painted pebbles with messages about living simply on them and these were displayed in the primary school and in homes.

We pledged to support the Thurrock Food Bank every week with food collections, helping in the warehouse and attending charity events which supported it. The sixth form 'Green Team' placed a food bank collection bin in the foyer of the school and each week emptied it for me to deliver to the Thurrock Food Bank warehouse. We have maintained collecting food during lockdown. Each Christmas we do a toy and book collection for foodbanks, Basildon Hospital, hospice shops and refuges. Parishioners have been extraordinarily generous and we deliver several carloads each year.

We pledged to involve isolated and lonely parishioners through prayer. The SVP and other volunteer groups in the parish, including the Extraordinary Ministers of Communion who take Holy Communion to the sick and housebound, keep us informed of how we can be more inclusive. Every week the parish newsletter advertises activities and events.

We pledged to develop the grounds of our Mass centre, St Peter's, as a way of improving the natural environment, encouraging our young parishioners to connect with Nature, provide a haven for wildlife and provide a reflective environment for parishioners. Parishioners donated 800 bulbs for this area, flowers and shrubs, plus birdfeeders and bird food. Children spent a day making bug hotels which were hung on the trees. The Confirmation group leaders donated funds to buy cement and paving slabs to make the flower beds more accessible to wheelchair users. We planned a vegetable garden for swop or sell events but Covid-19 has delayed this happening.

The Confirmation group created 12 square plots for miniature Stations of the Cross. The crosses were paid for and constructed by a disabled parishioner. Parishioners, our local supermarket and a large garden centre also donated plants and give us discounts. A rockery area was planted up with an olive tree to symbolise peace. Other plants were chosen for their sensory properties with a view to inviting children with visual impairment to come to the garden. Lockdown has made such visits impossible for now.

A parishioner volunteered to begin a knitting group to encourage the more isolated parishioners to come together and to give those who are housebound a chance to contribute. This group has been an outstanding success and has knitted and donated a huge number of items to a variety of charities. They also knit for our social events and sell their goods. The social side has been of enormous benefit to some parishioners. The group leader, who has worked so hard to facilitate this group, regularly places inserts into the newsletter informing us of just how many charities have been the recipients of these goods. Even in lockdown, the group has worked from home. All wool and equipment is provided by parishioners and by the group members. Through the knitting project we have made contact with so many charities we had not previously supported.

One of our pledges was to support the homeless and before lockdown we held a concert featuring professional and amateur musicians and choirs. The evening was a sell out with 220 tickets sold - the capacity of the hall. Our local fish and chip shops provided the food at a large discount. The proceeds, which exceeded £2000, were donated to the charity, 'Only A Pavement Away'. My brother, who is the CEO and founder, Greg Mangham, came and gave a talk on the charity. My son, who is a professional musician, took rehearsals and secured the services of the professionals for free. This will be an annual event once lockdown is lifted.

Many parishioners took part in CAFOD's 'Share the Journey' walk and we followed this up with a series of afternoon teas to celebrate our achievements. This walk was also a way of encouraging parishioners to walk more and drive less. To celebrate our pledge to protect the environment we asked parishioners to create space for wildlife in their own gardens and we had a Creation Service in the church. We are planning to do this again after lockdown. Each week we have a bidding prayer concerning protection of creation. We also had a pet blessing at our Summer Parish Day in 2019 and a follow up one at the end of that year.

Our parish volunteered to run the annual carol service last year at the Forestry Commission site, Thames Chase. We based the service on the theme of creation and new birth and it was presented by primary school children. The service was very well attended and was a wonderful way of beginning our Christmas celebrations for 2019. Community spirit was enhanced as children from our local Catholic School took part. It was rewarding to see that many people from various denominations came to join us.

We have witnessed an ever-growing commitment to support our elderly and isolated and many have noted that our ushers at Mass have enhanced community spirit by their welcome. We hope that in the future, should we ever return to some semblance of normality, we will renew our efforts to enhance our commitment to live more simply and reach out to those in need.

It was affirming to be commended by our two assessors for our small and dedicated team achieving so much in the parish and local schools, even with the Covid restrictions of 2020. They applauded making Livesimply initiatives visible through the parish website and weekly newsletters, and the commitment to be inclusive of vulnerable and isolated people in the parish with such initiatives as the Knitting Group and SVP outreach.

There is no doubt that participating in this initiative has re-awakened our understanding of the need to be less wasteful, to be more aware of how our lives impact on others, whether it be ensuring the goods that we buy are from sources which protect the rights of workers and are environmentally friendly or our understanding of how our decisions affect others. We have made every effort to educate our younger parishioners about the importance of protecting our natural environment and to be more proactive in caring for our neighbours wherever they may be. We expected Livesimply to do much for individuals, but it has done much for our parish too. We were asked if the project would continue post award; "absolutely" was our immediate response!

Bernadette Tsocos is the Livesimply Co-ordinator and Chair of the Pastoral Parish Council at St Joseph's, Upminster.