The main work of the society is to visit and befriend people in our parishes, and to provide practical and spiritual support to them through personal contact. We visit the sick, the bereaved, the lonely, and people who are in any kind of need.

We meet each week for just over an hour to pray, to reflect on a spiritual reading, and report on our visits. Then each week we spend about two hours making visits, always in pairs and always maintaining the confidentiality of the people we visit.

As an organisation we participate in and help organise services, events and activities such as the Bereavement Service every November. We also help to transport the elderly or infirm to special church services and social activities. One of the highlights of our year is calling on our visitees in the weeks before Christmas to wish them “A Happy Christmas” and leave a small gift.

Within the Diocese we support SVP facilities for the homeless and unemployed, the Holy Island Camp for children, and holiday accommodation for families in need. Overseas our conference is twinned with two SVP conferences in India whom we support financially and hear from on a regular basis. We also sponsor six young people in India to further their education and training, and support the SVP international Disaster Fund. For the last three years we have sent our December collections to Darfur in the Sudan to help fund their Baby Feeding stations.

Members find their work very rewarding and if you feel you would like to join us you will be most welcome.

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