update

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wishing all Pelicans and Friends of the Society of Missionaries of Africa as well as all our website visitors a very Happy, Blessed & Safe Christmas Season.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have made some slight modifications to the main menu in the left column. "News", "The Message Bank" and "The Website Diary" have moved to their new home in "The Pelicans' Archive", a new slot under the 'Appendices' section of the menu and we have added a new section "150 Years" where "News" used to be towards the top of the menu. This link is to a new page celebrating the Society's 150th anniversary.

Several Pelicans from far & wide were present at the celebrations at Heston on December 9th. We have have a brief report from Maurice Billingsley plus several photos from Br. Nick. Thank you both for your contributions. Anyone else who might like to send us a report on any of the Society's 150th celebrations, please, feel free to do so. We are at webteam@thepelicans.org.uk

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have had a request from Felicity Jones to help find her father's grave. She has already been in touch with the M. Afr.s in London and, although, receiving some helpful information is still searching. Her request & contact information is in the 'APPEALS' section of the website. We are sure she would appreciate any help the Pelicans might be able to offer.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

As we hasten to catch up on the past few weeks, in October we received the following from Fr. Chris Wallbank M.Afr.:

Missionaries of Africa 150 Anniversay

Dear Pelicans

Warm greetings from the Missionaries of Africa in London.

As you will see there is a general invitation on the website to our 150 th celebrations in London on December 9th at Heston parish.

May I add my own personal word of invitation to you all.

You are an important part of our story and history and we value your friendship and support so do, please, come, if you are able, and know you will be very welcome.

With sincere best wishes and looking forward to seeing you.

Yours

Chris

Fr Chris Wallbank
Community Superior

Missionaries of Africa
64 Little Ealing Lane
London W5 4XF

Tel. 0208799 5013

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sorry for the delay in getting back to normal, the transition across 'the pond' is taking longer than expected but we do, at least temporarily, have a working environment so things should flow fairly readily from her-on in.

Since our last report we have lost former confrere Fr. John Millane M.Afr. Paul Glover & Robbie Dempsey represented The Pelicans at his funeral in Dublin. May he rest in peace. We will add John to the obituaries section in the near future.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mike Ellis has given us an update on the AMAP Project. This update can be found in the APPEALS section of the website.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have received an update from Fr. Dave Cullen which can be found in the APPEALS section of the website. It should be noted in Fr. Dave's letter that he mentions the passing of former WF student, Charlie McCarthy. May he rest in peace. Although Fr. Dave did not include it himself, we have added a link to the White Fathers' 150 Anniversary celebrations held in Fr. Dave's diocese of Chipata in Zambia.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Robbie Dempsey has sent us an update to the gathering at Loughan House (REUNIONS) earlier this month, along with an addendum by Pat MacDermott.
We have also added an additional photo to 150 celebrations in Rutherglen. Thanks to Robin Russell, by way of Robbie.

We have also heard from John Quinn in Canada who sent us some photos. These can be seen at the bottom of GALLERY 423

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Another mini-reunion took place this month. Robbie Dempsey, Pat MacDermott & Robin Russell got together in Blacklion. Robbie has written a short report of the gathering which can be found in the REUNIONS section of the web site. While in Blacklion, at 'Loghan House' (formerly St. Augustine's College) they met with John Greene the nephew of the late 'Bud' Greene, who is now with the Irish Prison Service. John kindly supplied The Pelicans with a copy of his aunt's memorial card which we have added to Bud's obituary in the OBITUARIES section of the site. John has also posted his own 'report' on the messageboard.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have heard from Pat McHale who joined a number of Pelicans in Rutherglen, Glasgow for the 150 anniversary of the founding of 'The White Fathers' by Cardinal Lavigerie in 1868. This celebration took place at St. Columbkille's church on Aug. 26th. A short report of this event can be found in the reunions section of the web site. Following this celebration Pat paid a visit to St. Boswells and added a couple of photos he took in that area which we have added to the end of the page of the recent Melrose gather, also in the reunions section.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have received a new letter from Fr. Dave Cullen MAfr. by way of Robbie Dempsey. This update can be found in the APPEALS section of the web site.

In addition we have added a couple of links to our WELCOME page. 1) We have added a link to our Facebook page (a Facebook account is required to access this page) If you have a Facebook account but are not linked to our page then just follow the link on the 'Welcome' page and click 'join'. We have also added b) a 'hit counter'. This counter is counting from August 1st 2018. People have been asking what sort of traffic the Pelicans web site is getting so this may help answer some of those questions.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________]

Thanks to Mike Ellis we now have a report on the recent Pelicans' gathering in Melrose. This report is available in the REUNIONS section of the web site.

We have also added a box to the WELCOME page showing how much money has been donated to-date. This box will be updated as the donations come in. The Web Team would like to thank all those who have donated.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

While we await more photos & reports from our recent gathering in Melrose, you may have noticed we are catching up with the new European laws regarding privacy. Hence the new popup on the 'Welcome' page.

Also on the 'Welcome' page we have added a 'Donate' button. This button is for those who might like to help cover the costs of keeping our website going. Effective the beginning of next year we will have a bill of £195 for web hosting plus a further £10 for our domain (thepelicans.org.uk) registration. The web hosting amount is for a three year contract so will not re-occur until 2022 but the registration is annual. Any little amount will help us reach this goal. The Web Team thanks all contributors in advance.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have just returned from a very enjoyable gathering in Melrose, including a visit to the old St. Columba's. Mike Ellis will be submitting a report on the gathering in due course which we will publish along with photos taken by those participating.

In the meantime .... A big thank you to Hugh McVey who supplied us with names of non-Priorians on a couple of St. John's College class photos that appear in the Galleries. Robbie Dempsey also mentioned the apparent disappearance of the Gallery indexes. These, as far as they existed (Gallery 2 to Gallery 400), have now been restored.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have received a link to a website regarding the work the late Charlie Bingham did from Patricia Sandalphon. This link is now available under Charlie's name in the Obituaries section of the website. Thank you Patricia.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have just received some sad news from our Webmaster Emeritus, Paul West. Paul received the following communication from Paul Tait:

"Sadly I have a new name to add to the Obituary. Charlie Bingham passed away last year. He had been suffering from polmonary problems for some time, went into hospital and apparently died in February 2017. You would have known him. He first went to St. Boswell's in 1953. He was with the White Fathers untill 1963. After leavinfg the White Fathers he came down to London and worked for the Customs and Excise. He moved to Exeter and worked at the Airport for Customs. He took early retirement and went to live in Cornwall. Here he started an Animal Refuge. This became his life, he ran it with his partner Gillian, who passed away ten years ago. Charlie carried on by himself until he was lucky enough to find two people to work with him. His animal refuge was his passion till the last."

If anyone has any memories of Charlie they would like to share, please, send them to webteam@thepelicans.org.uk and will create an obituaries entry for him. May he rest in peace.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our gathering in Melrose is only a couple of weeks off. If anyone who hasn't committed yet and might be interested in joining us the details are available in the reunions section of the website.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Summer fast approaches we have a few announcements regarding upcoming events that all Pelicans may be interested in:

1) In July we have the Pelicans re-union in Melrose. Please see the REUNIONS section of the website for details.

2) The Society of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) are celebrating their 150th anniversary of founding by Cardinal Lavigerie and have a couple of upcoming events to celebrate the occasion:
                   a) Sunday August 26th at noon there will be a Euchristic celeration at St. Columbkille's in Rutherglen followed by a festive lunch in the parish hall.
                   b) A couple of fundraising events by the Parents & Friends Association will take place on Friday September 7th & Friday November 16th at 7:30pm, we believe,
                       at the White Fathers' house in Rutherglen

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It is with sadness we announce the passing of Fr. John-Michael (Ben) Henze M..Afr. https://mafrome.org/john-michael-ben-henze/ Some may remember Fr. Ben from his time at Sutton Coldfield in the early 60s. R I P. Thank you Maurice Billingsley for bringing this to our attention.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mike Ellis has sent us an update on the proposed gathering in Melrose in July. The details are available in the Reunions section of the Pelican's website. Should you like to join this gathering then we understand accommodation is limited and available on a first come first serve basis so, please, book early so as not to be disappointed.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you Gerry Lenaghan for responding to the call. :-) Gerry has sent us a further reminiscence regarding Abbotsford, a place many former students at St. Columba's will be familiar with. This can now be seen in the 'Reminiscences' section of the website. Thank you Gerry & (his brother) Michael.

In addition we would like to draw your attention to the posting on the message board by Vince O'Neill on the passing of Roberto Bellani, a former WF student at Broome Hall & Totteridge, May he rest in peace.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It has been quiet around here for a while. Please, remember if you come across any old photos or would like to share other memories you can send them to us at webteam@thepelicans.org.uk. We have, however, received another update from Fr. David Cullen W.F. by way of Robbie Dempsey. This update can be seen in the 'APPEALS' section of the web site

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have received an AMAP update from Mike Ellis regarding a project to refurbish the Santa Maria Referral Clinic in Zambia. Mike & John Joyce are calling on as many Pelicans as possible to help out on this project. All details are available in the APPEALS section of the web site. Please, help Mike & John in any way that you can.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It is with sadness that we hear from Emily Smith informing us of the passing of her father, a member of The Pelicans community and former White Fathers' Brother (1957-1965), Godric Smith, who passed away in Australia in December. Our prayers and condolences go to all his family and friends.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As we start the first full (non-holiday) week of 2018, the Web Team would like to wish all Pelicans a very happy and blessed new year.

Fr. Frank Barnes M.Afr, 1st Assistant Superior General, recently gave us permission to reproduce a photo of himself which was originally published in the SAP provincial council meeting report. This meeting took place in Lusaka, Zambia in March 2017. What, exactly, Fr. Frank was talking about at the time is not known, nor is who added the caption but we will take it that the work of a missionary today is still very hard work.

Let us all remember the good work that members of the Society still perform throughout Africa and other parts of the world in our prayers and, where possible, our support throughout 2018.