The Knights of St Columba is an Order of Catholic laymen, open to all practicing Catholic men over the age of 16. The organisation, which is non-political, exists to support the mission of the Catholic Church by undertaking Catholic Action and Charitable and Benevolent work under the general direction of the Hierarchy.

The Knights’ motto is “Serving God by Serving Others” and members of the Order strive to achieve their aims through the fundamental virtues of charity, unity and fraternity.

The Order was founded in the UK in 1919 by Catholic Gentlemen in Glasgow and today has about eight thousand members organised into Provinces and Councils.

Details of the history of the Order and its current national and international activities can be seen on the Knights of Saint Columba official web site at www.ksc.org.uk.

Meetings of Council 468 Penwortham of the Knights of St Columba are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 7.45pm in St Teresa's Church Meeting Room.

A Service of the Word and Holy Communion, which all are welcome to attend, is usually held at 7.30pm before each Council meeting.

Click here to see a map of the location.

Penwortham Council was founded in 1952.

Our Council covers the parishes of :

• Our Lady’s  Tarleton, 

• St Oswald’s Longton, 

• St Teresa’s Penwortham and

• St Mary Magdalen's, Penwortham

We provide support for our parish priests, parish events, youth in the parishes and charitable organisations in our area.

The work of the Knights is carried out at both local and national level.

In the last National Action Project, entitled 'Partners in Health', the Knights of St Columba, in conjunction with the Christian Aid charities CAFOD and SCIAF, raised funds for health projects in Third World Countries.

The emphasis was placed on the provision of primary health care, using simple low-cost methods. These projects included providing clean water, child health care, education, drugs and projects to combat communicable diseases.

The appeal raised funds totalling £140,000.

The latest National Action Project has seen the Knights of St Columba launch a life-saving partnership with the Samaritans through a three-year fundraising scheme.

The 'Unsung Heroes' campaign ran from 2005 to 2008 with the Knights of St Columba raising funds for Samaritans, which has 183 branches nationwide - see www.samaritans.org.uk.

A St Patrick's night event, which Council 468 Penwortham organised in 1997, raised £368 for this Project.

There will be a short interval before a new National campaign is launched later in 2009.

At a local level our Council is involved in numerous activities that provide help and support to our Parish Priest, young people and the community at large.

For example we support the young people of the parish who act as helpers on the Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes, we campaign on Right to Life

issues, we represent our parishes on the Penwortham Churches Together Forum and raise awareness of the Christian Faith through distribution of Christmas and Easter posters and erecting Christmas cribs in prominent places in Penwortham.

For Christmas 2008 the crib was once again displayed in the window of the Cutting Crew Ladies Hairdressers at 79 Liverpool Road. where it received many favourable comments.

On the Social side, we are currently helping to run the weekly Bingo sessions in St Teresa's Social Centre (every Tuesday at 8pm - all welcome!) and we organise our own Social events for the parish on a regular basis which, as well as contributing to the social life of the community, help to raise funds for the charities we support.

In 2008 these included a St. Patrick's night event, a Lancashire night, the Annual Bowling Match for the Ron Edwards Trophy, a wine tasting evening and the annual Christmas Bingo. Charities which benefited from funds raised at these social events included :

• CAFOD

• Derian House Children's Hospice

• St Catherine's Hospice

• Donna's Dream House , Blackpool

• Macmillan Nurses

• NSPCC

We also continued our financial support for a school in Ethiopia.

Council 468 would like to thank all those who attended the recent St Patrick's night social event on 20 March 2009, which raised £320 for Charity.

Membership in the Knights of St Columba is open to practicing Catholic men who are at least 16 years old.

We would encourage anyone who might be interested in joining the Knights to contact :

• Allan Hill on 01772 749579 or

• Tony Fitzpatrick on 01772 747777.

Potential members are welcome to attend our Council Meetings to get to know us better.

Further Information on the Knights is on the Notice Boards at the rear of the Churches.

If you have any queries about the detail shown on the Knights of St Columba pages, please contact :

Andrew Walker whose telephone number is 01772 743085.

You can also email Andrew at walker.ac@talktalk.net.

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