Musical Evening - Sunday 5th September 2010

The Opera Group of St Aloysius' College will give its annual performance during the Edinburgh Festival in the Lauriston Centre, Lauriston Street, (next to Sacred Heart Church) on Sunday 5th September 2010 at 5 p.m. The young people will perform extracts from Bizet's Carmen and Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.

No tickets are required but there will be a collection for the Companions' project in support of Alice Murphy's work in Nairobi. All welcome.

Petrasancta/Companions Dinner - September 7th 2010

There will be a dinner in Viva, Bothwell Street, at 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday 7th September for all interested in becoming Companions.

Please sign up via Facebook if you intend coming - we will be finished by 7.30p.m. so you can all go gadding about for the evening in your usual fashion.

Annual Requiem - November 11th 2010

The Annual Requiem of the Order will take place on November 11th 2010 in the Gillis Centre, Edinburgh. All Companions are warmly invited to attend the Mass which will be followed by a reception.

Ceilidh for Kibera

A Ceilidh for Kibera will take place in Christ the King Hall, Carmunnock Road, Glasgow, on Friday 26th November 2010 at 7.30 p.m. Tickets costing £10 each will be available shortly. Once again, Donnie MacAskill's peerless band will lead the event which is in aid of the children of Kibera Slum, Nairobi.

Day of Recollection

The Northern Marches of the Order of Malta will hold a Day of Recollection in Newcastle on Sunday 28th November 2010.

Carol Service 2010

The Annual Carol Service for the Order will take place on 14th December 2010 in St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh, and will be followed by seasonal refreshments in the Cathedral Hall.

Visit to Traquair House

In January 2011 (date t.b.c), the Companions will go on an excursion to one of the few Catholic stately homes left in Scotland, Traquair House. The visit will include Mass in the House Chapel, followed by lunch in the Cottage Restaurant and then a tour of the House, conducted by Catherine Maxwell Stuart, 21st laird of Traquair. The visit will conclude with a private tasting in the 18th century Dining Room of all four delicious bottled ales brewed at Traquair.

Dating back to 1107, Traquair was originally a hunting lodge for the kings and queens of Scotland. Later a refuge for Catholic priests in times of terror the Stuarts of Traquair supported Mary Queen of Scots and the Jacobite cause.

The excursion will cost £25 per head, including transport, lunch and entrance fees.

A Volunteer Week in Nairobi (11th-21st February 2011)

The Companions sponsor the wonderful work done by Alice Murphy and others in the Kenyan capital. Malteser International supports the Kenyan government by running eight clinics in the slums and prisons in Nairobi to diagnose and treat tuberculosis and HIV. They currently have a catchment of 1 million people and the work they have done to date has been awarded by the Kenyan government on two separate occasions.
The St Aloysius' College Petrasancta Society will be going out in February 2011 for its annual week working in schools and hospitals in the Kibera slum, in association with young graduates of the College's sister school, St Aloysius Gonzaga Kibera. All Companions are welcome to join them, staying in a secure Retreat Centre and working in a volunteer programme including the clinics of the Order of Malta.
The approximate cost will be £500 per person, excluding insurance and flights which Companions are encouraged to book themselves. You will be picked up from Kenyatta Airport and driven to the Group and may wish to come for less than the full ten days the young people are there. We hope to arrange a second trip, in the last week of June, for Companions who are students.

London Visit Friday 11th-Sunday 13th March 2011

A visit to London is planned for the weekend of 11-13th March 2011. On Friday evening we will attend David McVicar's production of Verdi's Aida at Covent Garden. On Saturday we will visit the Conventual Church of the Order for Mass and lunch. Other plans to follow.