In 1997 St Paul’s Church experienced an increasing number of callers at the Vicarage, asking for food. This led to the vicar at the time, Fr Mark Elliot-Smith, making an appeal to the congregation for donations of items of food and toiletries. The response was overwhelming, and this led to the setting up of what was then called and up until recent months, the “Deacons’ Cupboard”. This was tied to the role of the Deacon, who in their year of transition to the priesthood, would be responsible for not just assisting with worship in Church, but for pastoral care and outreach into the community? Some months ago, our current Parish Priest, Fr Staffan Dawkins felt that this project needed to evolve given the extent of need now present in our communities, not least the devastating impact Covid has had on the lives of the poorest.

Windrush Day is celebrated to honour the British Caribbean community and recognise the Windrush generation’s contribution to British society. The Windrush generation refers to people who arrived in the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1973, in response to labour shortages in the UK after World War II. The day marks the arrival of HMT Windrush, which brought one of the first groups of West Indian Migrants to the UK in 1948.

On 22nd June 2023 the Parish of St Pauls and St John’s marked the sixth anniversary of Windrush Day and 75 years since HMT Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks in Essex.

In July 2023, members of our church congregation passionately embraced our community outreach mission by organizing a successful Community Health Check Day. Collaborating with local healthcare professionals, including doctors, general nurse practitioners, mental health nurses, pharmacists, and holistic therapists, our volunteers orchestrated a day dedicated to the holistic well-being of our community