History

Following the meeting in St. Cassian’s during September 2001 it was felt by the Lasallian group that we needed to meet and organise ourselves on a regional basis. There was however no clear idea of what we were going to attempt to do nor even where or how we should meet. Following a meeting of the Steering Group at Oxford a small group decided to meet in Bristol to discuss possible mission there. This group met on 3rd November 2001at the Elsie Briggs House of Prayer. It was a group of people sympathetic to the spirit of de la Salle and to the work of St Cassians. They were not all ex-team members, indeed one of them had not even been to Kintbury. Since then this group has grown and has met increasingly regularly. It is now based at 1B Sydenham Road.

Plans & Vision

We have been inspired to work, first and foremost, for the continued spiritual development of young people. Many of the group are actively engaged in this work as teachers in the Secondary and Sixth Form schools of Bristol. We would like to see this work extended to a chaplaincy team that works on a full time basis in each of the Catholic Schools. We had envisaged this as the work of a Lasallian Community living together perhaps for a “gap” year and being co-ordinated by the director of the community (see document Bristol Lasallian Association – some ideas). However, although this remains an aim of the group, it is obvious that this has to remain long term.

We have had to look more closely at the present and the sort of work that can reasonably be done by people who work full time. It is obvious to anyone that has worked at St Cassians or has taken pupils there that a real need is for some sort of “Follow up” for the pupils when they come home. We believe that we can answer this need by providing a “Kintbury” community here in Bristol. This will provide the opportunity to pray in the manner that is so much a part of the Kintbury experience, as well as continue meeting young people from other schools. There is also the important dimension for the “adults” in Bristol that we form a community that is able to pray, share and celebrate together, so that we too can feel affirmed in our work with young people. What we are essentially doing then is:
a) Providing a limited follow up to the young people of Bristol, Bath and possibly South Wales to their experience at St Cassians
b) Providing support and community to the older people of Bristol and surrounding area who are in sympathy with the work of St Cassians.

Material Needs

Our most pressing need was for a base. Since July we have been fortunate to be able to meet in the basement of an off-shoot of the Downside community at 1B Sydenham Road, Bristol. This offers the advantage of easy access to the centre of Bristol and sufficient space to have small group rooms, a discussion area and a prayer room. We do not have to pay any rent for this so from our point of view as well as from the point of view of the 1B Community, who wish to be involved in out reach to young people, this is an excellent place to begin.

This basement is already furbished and can immediately be used for meeting and prayer, but we wish to provide the young people who will come, as well as ourselves, with a very visible reminder of St Cassians. Our project for the very near future is to turn the rear room of the basement into a St Cassians style “Quiet Room.” This has entailed a lot of dumping of accumulated clutter (which we have done over the past two weeks) and will also involve damp proofing and re-decoration of the room to turn it into something recognisably like Kintbury. We hope that some of the young people themselves will be involved in this re-decoration as well as willing adults.

Financial Needs

We have already had several inspections of the basement made by both a damp proofing company and by the builder/architect at 1B. There may be the need to raise considerable funds to remedy the damp problem, perhaps several thousands of pounds. This is being investigated by the builder sometime this week (cf minutes from 12th October). We will try to do so, if necessary, but we realise that this may take a long time to completely solve. We are currently looking at the possibility of setting up our own account and then appealing to charitable organisations as well as looking to raise money ourselves by any fund raising activities we can. Any assistance would be gratefully accepted.

We also plan to have a retreat together at the Ammerdown Retreat Centre, near Radstock, over the first weekend of November. As well as prayer and time spent together we plan to have “workshops” to make icons, candles, candle-holders and perhaps more ambitious plans for things such as cushions or even bean-bags! Many of these things we can provide ourselves but others will require further investment or generous donation to achieve.

Conclusion

We have started small but we have plans to grow, if the Spirit allows it. We see our work as complimentary to the work both of St Cassians and our Catholic schools in Bristol and Bath. We do have longer term ideas but the de la Salle Order must commit to these first. In the meantime we see a very real need here in the West and would like your continued support and prayers in our endeavours.

The Lasallian Association for Mission in Bristol (LAMB)
15th October 2002