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First guest speaker was Mairead Bushnell the newly elected "first female" National SVP president of Ireland.
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Mairead Bushnell - National SVP President |
Her talk centred on the basics and ethos of the Society and the 'core' reasons why we continue to carry on the work we do in helping the poor and tackling the effects of poverty every day.
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Brid McGuinness and Patrick Kane took to the stage to highlight the ongoing work that is undertaken by SVP "Youth" in the northern region. Both current young members themselves, they outlined the activities that they have been involved in.
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Brid and Paddy, who attend Dominican College Fortwilliam and St Malachy's College in Belfast, spoke enthusiastically about the type of work that they carry out as SVP Youth members. Their good works include visitation, fundraising and hamper appeals within their own schools.
They were keen to point-out the 'inter-school' opportunities that they had also capitalised on throughout the year including the odd Ceili and Camp Vincent at Corrymeela, where youth members from throughout the region were able to share their experiences and thoughts of SVP.
It was evident through their presentations and the resounding reception that they were given, the the Society will be in mature hands if Brid and Paddy are representative of new-blood coming through in the years to come.
Over 170 members and guests attended the Society's annual members' meeting at the NUU campus in Coleraine on Saturday 1st September 2007.
The theme of the day was, "Our Society - Spiritual or Secular?" and the programme of speakers reflected debate and discussion in this regard.
After registration and coffee, outgoing SVP Regional President Larry McArdle welcomed everyone to the one day event.
Ray McDaid started off the day with his talk on "Revitalisation", drawing from the dominant themes in our three year plan, in terms of our spirituality and our commitment to tackling social injustice.
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Cormac Wilson - Regional President (elect) |
He was followed by regional president elect Cormac Wilson, who gave a thought provoking talk on "Prisons" and the work of the SVP in Magilligan, Maghaberry and Hydebank young offenders centre.
During the afternoon, guest speaker Buster Cox from the Law Centre NI, gave an informative talk on "Migrant Issues".
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Buster Cox - Law Centre NI
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The thrust of his talk was to encourage interested SVP volunteers to get OISC recognised training in order to offer qualified advice to persons seeking help.
The range of people affected included asylum seekers, migrant workers, EU citizens and A8 nationals. Their needs covered a whole range of issues from access to benefits, housing, permits and human rights.
Members broke up into several groups or 'workshops' where the many issues raised above were hotly debated and discussed.
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