Our Story
Four generations move to St. Joseph’s
When we arrived at our new home called St Joseph’s, I remember thinking, ‘What on earth are we doing here?
As we settled down, having moved here with my mum, son and his wife and four children, I remember saying to Kevin (my husband), “it’s beautiful here, the sound of monastery bells calling everyone to pray seven times a day, the wildlife and landscape around us but I do miss people”.
Kevin’s response was, ‘make some scones, and we’ll do cream teas on the lawn’.
We all thought he was joking, but he persisted, and so Carey (my daughter-in-law) started to bake, and we put her scones in a wheelbarrow at the bottom of the drive along with an honesty box. In short order, they all went and people kept coming back for more. Anthony (my son) then rang the Abbot of the monastery (our landlord) to ask if it would be possible for us to set up a few tables and a gazebo on our lawn, and he said yes!
We realised we were going to need to buy more provisions as well as cups, saucers, cutlery etc. but funds were a little short at the time; the family had used all their money in our move to our new home. With this all-in mind, being good Catholics, we headed off to mass. The Gospel of the Day was presented as the ‘Feeding of the thousand with limited resources. We looked at each other knowing that we had to go for it, so the next day we went off to various charity shops and bought what we could for £10: china cups and saucers, teapots, and jugs. We set up tables and chairs and a gazebo, placed a handwritten sign at the bottom of the drive and people started to come.
We couldn’t decide what to charge if anything at all, but realistically we knew we had to ask for something in order to carry on and pay the bills etc. so we carefully worked out a fair price. As time went by people were coming for more than refreshment: either a chat or quiet time, or just to sit and be. At times there were so many that our home became the ‘tearoom’ as we had to move indoors, and as winter approached people asked us not to close.
Abbey Grange
Two and half years later the building across the field from our home, called ‘Abbey Grange’ (now referred to as St Joseph’s (Charnwood Forest) Rural Centre), came into our sights. This would give us a bigger building within a peaceful setting where we could spread out and accommodate everything we wanted to achieve, including our growing charitable work in offering respite from the stresses and strains of work and life to people and organisations.
Nothing we asked for, but everything we hoped for! It has been a lot of hard work and sometimes we thought we wouldn’t make it; when we had done everything to survive and we could do no more, we just had to lift our oars out of the water and wait. So, we look forward, with hope and a song in our hearts, trusting that we can continue to welcome all to our centre with care and compassion and of course, a cream tea.
Currently, the Centre cares for and provides hospitality, a listening ear and training for vulnerable people via our partnerships with Derbyshire, North Staffs and Burton YMCA’s, Saltbox and Enrich. The Centre also supports various local charities and organisations that benefit from a refuge and place of acceptance and compassion.
