by Conor Bradley, SPARK
Help raise £650 to support local causes
Crowdfunding For Good - From JustGiving https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/verso-ialto
Seven of us will be running the Leeds Marathon on 10th May 2026 as part of a relay team to raise money for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in Bradford, Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal in Leeds and Little Sisters of the Poor in Leeds. 🏃💨
Half of the money we raise will be split between the Franciscan Friars and Sisters. The Friars run a soup kitchen 3 times a week in Bradford, and the Sisters run a food pantry throughout the week from their convent in East Leeds. They provide great support and care to their local communities and all money we raise will be greatly received so they can continue their ministry 🙏🏻
The other half of the money we raise will go towards The Little Sisters of the Poor, who used to have a care home in Headingley which sadly had to close in 2023 due to the discovery of unsafe RAAC concrete, and unfortunately all the residents had to be moved out. The Sisters provide phenomenal care to the elderly and the money we donate to them will go towards helping them build a new care home in Headingley!
We are so very grateful for your donation and it will mean so much to the causes we're running for too. Rest assured you'll be in our prayers! God Bless and again, thank you so much! 🙌🏻
Conor, Ben, Clio, Carmen, Stephen, Laurynus and Fr. Frantisek 🙏🏻✝️❤
Give here
Help raise £650 to support local causes
Crowdfunding For Good - From JustGiving https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/verso-ialto
Seven of us will be running the Leeds Marathon on 10th May 2026 as part of a relay team to raise money for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in Bradford, Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal in Leeds and Little Sisters of the Poor in Leeds. 🏃💨
Half of the money we raise will be split between the Franciscan Friars and Sisters. The Friars run a soup kitchen 3 times a week in Bradford, and the Sisters run a food pantry throughout the week from their convent in East Leeds. They provide great support and care to their local communities and all money we raise will be greatly received so they can continue their ministry 🙏🏻
The other half of the money we raise will go towards The Little Sisters of the Poor, who used to have a care home in Headingley which sadly had to close in 2023 due to the discovery of unsafe RAAC concrete, and unfortunately all the residents had to be moved out. The Sisters provide phenomenal care to the elderly and the money we donate to them will go towards helping them build a new care home in Headingley!We are so very grateful for your donation and it will mean so much to the causes we're running for too. Rest assured you'll be in our prayers! God Bless and again, thank you so much! 🙌🏻
Conor, Ben, Clio, Carmen, Stephen, Laurynus and Fr. Frantisek 🙏🏻✝️❤
Give here
We had the pleasure of hosting three incredible workshop leads:
A highlight for many of our Youth Team members was our trip to 
Our Youth Leadership Training Weekend wasn't full of traditional Leadership skills workshops. Yet our Youth Team reflected they were feeling more confident and capable to undertake their projects when they returned home. Through a focus on creativity, play, and fun, they presented ideas to the group, curated a space where they each felt supported to be vulnerable, and made genuine connections with each other. As one member said, "we're a friendship group now".
This was our first Youth Leadership Training Weekend, and from the feedback of those who joined us, we're planning to make it a core part of our annual Youth Team. This year our meet-up was made possible by: the generosity of our workshop-leads volunteered their time and expertise; the University of Bradford and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture for providing venues; Rotary Club of Jersey who funded travel for two of our attendees, and the Leeds Justice and Peace Commission’s 
The Columban Missionaries in Britain are inviting students aged 13–18 to enter the 2026 Schools Media Competition. The theme of the competition is, “Becoming a refugee is never a choice. But how we respond is.” United Nations Secretary General Secretary, António Guterres.
All Hallows Church, just down the road in Headingley does great work in the area as a hospitable community-based centre of activity.
West Yorkshire Citizens 2026 Delegates Assembly
3431 mile fundraising ride for Medical Aid for Palestinians
Several of our SPARK members graduated in the summer, and are continuing to work towards justice and peace in pastures new
On 15th June there was a 10th birthday party of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si, to remember how justice for the poor and justice for the planet are related. 
Habemus Papam!
Just over 50 people gathered at Wheeler Hall on the Bank Holiday weekend Saturday to find out more about the LiveSimply award scheme. It was a hectic day with 3 different workshops in the morning. In the afternoon people chose to attend another three workshops (out of 6 offered).
Exploring Social Justice with Notre Dame 6th Form College
Oscar Romero Lecture with Fr Luis Orlando Pérez Jiménez
The Global Ocean Treaty has now been ratified by over 60 governments worldwide, this creates legal frameworks for High Seas Sanctuaries, protected areas where threatened ecosystems can recover and thrive. If this treaty meets the expectations of conservationists, it will protect a third of our oceans (approximately an area bigger than Canada).
FareShare was originally created as part of the homeless charity Crisis in 1994 but since 2004 they have been running as an independent charity. In 2023 FareShare and Tesco won a charity partnership award working together to reduce poverty in the UK. They ensure surplus food in the Tesco supply chain goes to feed people in need. In 2023 and 2024 they redistributed 56,000 tonnes of food to nearly one million people in need.
Eva Wishart and Emily Smith spent 3 years breeding harvest mice in 27 tanks in their bedrooms and garage, in order to reintroduce our smallest rodent to Devon. They discovered the species is threatened in England due to current farming practices and habitat loss. They set up a Crowdfunder which was picked up by TV nature presenter Chris Packham, he shared it to his millions of social media followers. This helped them release more than 220 harvest mice into the wild.
Workshops working on the barriers leading to poverty, what enables people to lift themselves out of poverty and what we can, and do do, to enable people to thrive followed. Increased individualisation was identified as a negative impact on responses to poverty.
The whole day was a stark reminder of how often those in poverty are isolated, unseen and unheard.
One of the S V P conferences then listed the different types of help they had given over the previous 12 months. The range of help given surprised parishioners e.g. paying the food pantry weekly subscription of £6 for a young mother of three children when she couldn’t afford it at the end of some months. Information about the S V P Support Centre on York Road, the Food Pantry run from the Tinshill Shop and about the Butcher Hill Shop were also given.
