Enid Cork is a Licensed Lay Minister at St Michael the Archangel church, Tokyngton, Wembley, in the Willesden Episcopal Area. For the last 20 years, apart from during Covid, she has been hosting a garden party at her home in aid of the charity Mercy Ships.
“I am a medical person, having been a senior theatre ophthalmic nurse,” she said. After seeing a photograph about cataracts in a Mercy Ships flyer, she started supporting the charity, which runs hospital ships off the coast of Africa. After her retirement, she decided to “see where her money was being spent” and volunteered for two months in Ghana.
“The fellow volunteers were very welcoming and extremely hardworking. You have to be prepared, especially if you haven’t been exposed to this type of volunteering before. I focused on Ophthalmics because that was my specialty,” Enid explained.
She left the ship inspired by what she had seen and wanted to do more.
“It was a privilege to meet the people that needed surgery and to see the huge positive difference this surgery had on their lives afterwards. They were so very happy and extremely grateful,” she said.
From coffee morning to garden party
Soon after Enid returned to London in 2006, she hosted her first fundraiser in her garden. Back then it was a simple coffee morning. Over the years it has grown into a garden party which starts at 11am with tea and cakes, then a speaker or herself talking about the work of the charity, its impact on the lives of the communities it serves, followed by a delicious Jamaican lunch and raffle. The event finishes around 4pm.
Over the years, Enid has raised thousands for Mercy Ships.
This August, at least 50 people attended Enid’s fundraising event. More than £1,000 has already been raised, with money still coming in.
“I find that people attending my Mercy Ships garden party are always motivated to give. I think this is because they have an eyewitness account from someone, me, who has been on the ship and has seen and done the work firsthand. Many have been coming every year and also support the charity separately to giving to my event because they now know it well,” said Enid, who is also a Mothers’ Union member, and she invites members from her church and across the Willesden area.
“People from all over and different nationalities come. This year there were people from my church, St Michael’s, from St Anselm’s, Belmont, Holy Innocents in Kingsbury and other churches including the local Methodist Church,” she recalled.
A community coming together
Enid came to London as a teenager from Jamaica in the 1960s and is especially proud of the support, contribution, generosity and interest her fellow Windrush Generation have given to the cause over the years.
She is happy with the feedback from everyone who attends. Speaking of her most recent event, she said:
“I have been told that they enjoyed the day and that it was for a good cause. I enjoyed it too and I want everyone to feel at home and comfortable,” she said.
A lifetime of service
Enid first started attending St Michael’s in 1982. Before that she was not particularly interested in church. It was while on holiday in Jamaica and visiting a local Moravian church, where she felt the Holy Spirit tell her that she must be committed.
“When I returned I went straight to my local parish church. It was around the same time that St Michael’s had a new priest too. I was always very active in my local community so already knew people there and they knew me! Whatever was happening at church, I got involved,” she said.
Enid was a founding member of the Willesden Area Black Anglican Concerns group, she was on Bishop’s Council, Diocesan Synod, she ran Sunday School and Bible study groups and in 1995 she became a Licensed Lay Minister.
Enid is truly an inspiration to many and her family is now planning to ask Mercy Ships to nominate her for an MBE. Her contribution to her community and to the work of Mercy Ships has been a blessing both near and far.
