PANAJI
The United Friends Heathrow, an association of Goan employees at Heathrow Airport in London, donated £1,000 (Rs 1.21 lakh) to the St Francis Xavier's Training cum Production Centre for Persons with Disabilities at Old Goa.
United Friends Heathrow Co-ordinator Socorro (Herteberto) de Mello along with other members handed over the donation to Fr Walter D'Souza, incharge at the centre, on Monday.
“It has been three years since the United Friends Heathrow has been celebrating the Feast of St Francis at the St George Chapel, Heathrow Airport. This time, we celebrated the St Francis Xavier Feast on December 3, 2025 with the Goan tradition of ‘Confrade’ or ‘Irmao’ in attendance,” said Leister Martins, President of United Friends Heathrow.
“For the first time, we celebrated a Mass in Konkani with permission from Heathrow Airport Authorities and the Multi-Faith chaplaincy of Heathrow Chaplain Rev Ruth Bottoms. Goans from different faiths got together to venerate our Goencho Saib at Mass which was celebrated by Fr Renato Andrade SFX of the Goan Chaplaincy and concelebrated by Fr Paul Ibekwe (C.s.sp), and Fr Jude Kurumeh (S.s.sp). Socorro (Herteberto) de Mello, who also serves as Chaplain (social services) at Heathrow Airport also offered his services at Mass.”
“Hundreds of Goans work at Heathrow Airport for many decades but this was the first time we celebrated Mass in Konkani at the Heathrow Airport.”
THE DONATION
Martins said an amount of £1,000 (Rs 1.21 lakh) was collected from the Feast Mast and other activities pertaining to Feast.
“All staff from our company which deals in baggage handling operations contributed generously and we decided for the first time to donate this fund to an organisation involved in noble work in Goa. Since we collected the funds during the Feast Mass, we felt it appropriate to donate the money to the St Francis Xavier's Training cum Production Centre for Persons with Disabilities at Old Goa,” said Martins.
“Socorro de Melo along with some of our other members donated the amount of Rs 1.21 lakh to Fr Walter D’Souza, incharge of the centre, at the centre in Old Goa.”
When asked if the United Friends Heathrow have similar social outreach initiatives in the near future, Martins replied: “We do plan to similar programmes or initiatives in the coming months. But it all depends on time constraints as Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world and not many of our colleagues or friends can gather in a single day due to 24x7 work or duties.”
THE ASSOCIATION
According to Martins, the need to form the United Friends Heathrow arose on account of the several hundreds of Goans are employed at Heathrow Airport.
“It is difficult to get the exact number of Goan employees, as work in all departments. In our company along, we will have over 350 Goans. I can say that on any given day, at least 400 or more Goans works which consists of all five terminals (T1/2, T3, T4, T5),” said Martins.
“Earlier, our Goan colleagues from our company would offer a Thanksgiving Mass for the services rendered at Heathrow airport and for the well-being of themselves and their families.”
Martins said it became difficult to fix a date towards the end of December or beginning of January as most Goans would go on a vacation during that time.
“When I got on board, I got together like-minded Goans who work on all five terminals and proposed December 3 for our Thanksgiving Mass, to commemorate the Feast of St Francis Xavier. Herteberto de Mello then suggested celebrating the feast at the St George Chapel, Heathrow Airport.”
“The purpose was to unite all Goan employees at Heathrow Airport, cutting across religions. As of now, the United Friends Heathrow is restricted to organising the Feast Mass of St Francis Xavier and for the first time, the celebration has officially been included on the Heathrow website,” Martins added.
