It was partly inspired by the Vatican council held in Rome during the early sixties, and from the awesome struggles of the American Civil Rights movement and the courageous leadership of Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr -  and although much water has passed under the bridge since that time the original principles of seeking justice and peace for those in need-
both locally and globally, still very much apply.

It all began In March of 1963, Bryan King, Joe Candlin, Ray Curran, Tom Hasset, and John Kerrigan, a group of friends living in Aintree, and North Liverpool, were discussing their concerns about the plight of some elderly members of the community who had been severely affected by the unusually harsh winter.

It was decided that they could utilise basic skills in plumbing and redecorating, skills which we had in our own community, to help those old people living in rented houses who had been badly hit by burst pipes, and for whom no provision for help was available at that time.
At this time, they also decided to try to help the Freedom from Hunger Campaign, which was at that time raising awareness and funds for the third world.

Since those early days 39 years ago, the Aintree Action and Overseas Aid Group has developed and continues to develop those principles, with some of the original members still active today.
The Group became a Registered Charity about 20 years ago as it moved more into fund-raising in order to answer the many calls for help it received. One of the first night shelters for the homeless in Liverpool, started by John Jennings, the Simon Community, was started with funding and support from the group and continues to this day.. Currently we are helping the Petrus Community for homeless men and the homeless womens unit run by the Sisters of Mother Theresa in Liverpool.

We were privileged to meet Mother Theresa on two of the occasions when she visited Liverpool, to discuss working together for the homeless. We are committed to helping both of these units for the homeless on a regular monthly basis.

From the beginning it was accepted that the enormous problems of disease and starvation facing people in the so called 'third world' would still be with us in the foreseeable future, and so much of our fund raising has been directed to a variety of small self help schemes, mainly involved in the growing of food, hygiene, sanitation, education and general improvements in the quality of their lives.