Church reaches out to wharfers

Dan Curtin said: "The people working here in Canary Wharf are not poor. In many ways they are the elite. But you see the isolation, people in the workplace under enormous pressure.
"We will be hoping to help young people in the workplace. People in their 20s and 30s are still finding their feet. There is great work that they can do."
So far, more than #300,000 has been raised to set up a centre for Wharf workers and to help young people living close to Limehouse.
Builders are already hard at work making the centre, based in One Island Row, next to Our Lady Immaculate Church, ready for the three members of the team who will live there.
Placed close to Commercial Road, with social housing to the left in Poplar, and exclusive Limehouse apartments to the right, the building is ideally placed to show the contrast between rich and poor in the docklands.
Dan hopes that members of Canary Wharf Catholic Community (CWCC) may start using the house as a meeting place, especially a new group for Wharf Catholics in their 20s and 30s.
He said: "I asked the CWCC last week a gentle, but challenging question. Where are the coffee shop workers? Where are your office cleaners? Where is the rest of the Catholic community of Canary Wharf?
"There are of course practicalities which must be overcome - people's working patterns, communication, the problems of emails - but all surmountable."
The first meeting of young Wharf workers is due to take place shortly.
For more details, contact Dan on 07957 190516.
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