Teignmouth

Easter 2008

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Success of the 24-hour seafarers' mission room

Three months after the facility was opened, port chaplain Louise Carter reports that it is proving a great success. Comments in the visitors' book include

"Thank you for a quiet and restful place to be"

"This is a great mission".

On seeing the room for the first time, one Filipino seafarer asked Louise in amazement, "is this all just for us?"

Louise wishes to thank all the volunteers who maintain, clean and look after the rooms and who are often onhand to talk to seafarers and help them with their queries or problems.

Scroll down to read about the inauguration of the mission room

Christmas 2007

October 2007

Volunteers from local parishes work together to provide a “palace” within the port

When AOS began pastoral outreach in Teignmouth three years ago, visiting seafarers often bemoaned the lack facilities in the port. At the time, there was not even a telephone which they could use. AOS was therefore delighted when ABP, the port authority, made a suite of rooms available to provide essential services for seafarers within the port of Teignmouth.

Thanks to the hard work of local AOS volunteers, these rooms have been turned into a 24 hour facility. Access is by means of a door entry code which port and pastoral workers circulate among seafarers. The facility includes telephones, a television, kitchenette and prayer room. Supplies of books, videos, CDs and clothing are available. Louise Carter, AOS port chaplain in Teignmouth, describes the facility as a “non-institutional space.”

An opening celebration was held in October 2007 during which the rooms were blessed by local parish priest Fr Jonathan Stewart. AOS supporters from the parishes of Teignmouth, Dawlish, Shaldon, Totnes, Newton Abbott and Paignton joined the celebration together with members of local Russian and Polish communities. Representatives of ABP were also present and received a vote of thanks from AOS.

Louise paid tribute to all the volunteers who had worked so hard to prepare the facility describing them as “the face of AOS around the port.”

The first clients to use the new Teignmouth facility were two seafarers from Cap Verde. They were delighted that telephones are now available in the port and pronounced the suite of rooms a “palace.”

click here to read an interview with Louise on the website of the BBC

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