Social Group - we are a small group of people who share a passion for gathering our parishioners and friends together. Our current events always consist of holding at least quarterly Quiz nights with a BIG GRAND Christmas Raffle and Quiz held every year with great attendance.

In the past we have had Race nights, games nights, meals at local restaurants, sports days etc, but its hard-to-get people to come to some of these events, where as the QUIZ night always has a good turnout!  The proceeds from the quiz night are given to good causes suggested by our priest or any parishioners who may have any charitable causes, they wish to ask us to donate to.  We have also supported past events for Father Tindall’s birthday, welcoming Father David Coxon into the parish either held at St. John's school or in the parish meeting room.  This has involved coordinating of food preparations, room set up, communications, hosting on the night. Anyone is welcome to join our social committee and all ideas welcome!

Craft Group - The craft group meets on Mondays from 1pm to 3pm in St. Mary's meeting room. We bring our own projects to work on. These include knitting, sewing, embroidery, painting, crochet, crystal art, model building etc.   We also enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and a chat - especially the chat.

Parish Finance Group – meetings are held quarterly, and membership of the group is determined by Diocese guidelines.

SVP Group – meets every 2-3 months as necessary.  The group works within the rules set by the Charity Acts and all members must have a current DBS certificate and need to attend training courses as defined by the SVP nationally.

Parish Pastoral Council works with the Parish Priest to seek ways of enhancing and extending the Church’s ministry to the Catholic parish and the wider community.  It meets four times per year, and it currently has nine members.  New members are added when needed by election or co-option.

Spirituality Group – is an informal gathering which gets together several times per year to discuss, along with the Parish Priest, ways of developing and strengthening the parish’s worship and prayer.  This has included preparations for Advent and Lent and discussions about the way we use music.  Meetings are open to anyone who would like to contribute.

Youth – Parish/School Links - Our parish has strong links with our local Catholic primary schools: St Wilfrid’s and       St Chads, as well as St John’s Catholic Secondary School and Sixth Form College. Fr. David visits our schools regularly and supports the school communities’ spiritual development, celebrating Masses, liturgies, meeting with groups of students and staff in school, throughout the academic year.  St Mary’s Church is used by the schools to facilitate RE teaching e.g. students are given the opportunity to visit and explore what is in a Church and its significance in various aspects of the Catholic faith. School Masses and liturgies take place in St Mary’s Church at significant times in the liturgical calendar, as well as in the school year. All three schools collaborate and participate in the annual Carol Service in St Mary’s Church, which is attended by parents and parishioners.

Fr. David, parishioners and school staff, collaborate to deliver the First Holy Communion / Reconciliation, and the Confirmation programmes.

Staff and pupils take part in our Family Sunday Masses which are usually held once per half term. Fr David celebrates 8.15am Mass each Friday in term time in St John’s School Chapel, for school staff and parishioners.

The parish supports schools’ projects: Flame, which is held biannually at Wembley Arena, is financially assisted by the parish, and some parishioners attend the event with students and staff from St John’s. St Mary’s SVP financially supports the Christmas Hamper Appeal, for families in need. Parishioners made poppies for the Remembrance Day Celebration. Parishioners volunteer as Foundation Governors at our schools.

Schools invite parishioners to attend various events: Masses and liturgies in schools, school shows and productions, award evenings, sports days/events, St John’s Christmas lunches and St John’s monthly ‘Natter and Entertainment’ afternoons in collaboration with Age UK.

Interested? -  if any parishioners would be interested in getting involved in supporting our schools or young parishioners have a word with Fr David or Ann Wake. We are keen to involve parishioners in our youth projects and we would welcome your ideas and support.  All volunteers are DBS vetted as part of the Schools and Diocesan Safeguarding Policies.

Safeguarding - each church has a Parish safeguarding representative (PSR). St Mary’s representative is Jeannie Hardy and St Wilfrid’s is Fiona Ottewell. The PSR links to the Diocesan Team (Hexham and Newcastle) who are based at Newcastle.  We follow the process of recruitment for Parish volunteers and those who have regular access to vulnerable adults and children need to have clearance i.e. enhanced DBS (Data and Barring service) checks prior to taking on a role in the Parish.  The Safeguarding team at the Diocese are responsible for producing safeguarding guidelines and policies which are in line with National guidance. At a local level the Parish safeguarding representative enables appropriate process is followed and reports back to the Diocese. Training and support for safeguarding is also provided by the Diocese. They are also available to give support and answer any questions that arise from the Parish. The Diocesan Safeguarding team can be contacted via email: safeguarding@diocesehn.org.uk or phone 0191 243 3305. Any urgent situations should be relayed to the local safeguarding services i.e. Police/social services.  For contact details of the Parish safeguarding representative see notices on church noticeboards.

The Sacrament of First Holy Communion - in the Parish, children from Catholic families attend First Holy Communion preparation. Regular monthly sessions usually start in Autumn (October) and finish with First Holy Communion Mass in May. Monthly sessions are held on Sunday mornings at St Mary’s church hall led by a group of Catechists. Any children in Year 4 or above are invited to take part in preparation sessions and local primary schools, St Wilfrid’s and St Chad’s promote programmes with parents. It is important that preparation for FHC is tri-partite, that is, it involves parish, parents, and schools.

Laudato Si Group - The parish have an active Laudato Si group who have met regularly since June 2021. The group is open to everyone in the parish who has an interest in environmental issues. The group was originally named ‘care of our common home’ and then became Laudato Si, it aims to follow suggestions from the encyclical work published by Pope Francis.   The group usually organises a range of activities over the year, including an annual survey for parishioners to share actions they are taking to support reducing environmental waste and taking care of nature. Bulb planting and sharing plants are activities the group have organised previously as well as the development of a wild garden in the parish grounds to support nature.

Foodbank - Along with other local Christian churches the parish supports our local foodbank and the generous weekly contributions made by parishioners help local families in crisis.

We need lots of food items.  Many families with children receiving free school meals have to find extra help during the school holidays so that the children can have proper food.  That involves our foodbank being under more pressure.  Whatever you can give us to help will be a real godsend.

Church Cleaning Group – responsible for the cleaning of our church, meeting room and kitchen on a monthly basis.