Holy Trinity Street and Walton

Last Sunday I joined the All Stars, which that day consisted of Lucy, Rohan, Laurence, Oliver and Flo to find out what they do while the rest of us are in the service.

When I arrived, they were busy listening to the words of songs and helping Jan write a list of ideas about God. Concentration was high and everyone called out something. Then Jan surprised us all by getting out a box of hidden items to do with illness and pulling out medicine, a spoon, some plasters and so on. That led to a discussion about being ill and then Jan explained all about an illness there was more of in Jesus’ day, namely leprosy.

Then it was time to get up and act out the story of the leper who went to see Jesus in the hope of being healed. There was plenty of scope for miming – ringing a bell, looking miserable because everyone ignored you, kneeling down and asking Jesus to be made well, skipping off happily afterwards.

Then we sat in a circle while Jan threw a huge cardboard die which had the names of everyone in the group on it. Whenever it landed we talked about what would be a good prayer for that person. Some people had been ill, others wanted to ask for something or thank God for something.

And finally … cutting and sticking! Everyone was given a template to make their own die and was asked to write or draw on every side to represent people or things to pray for. After a few sticky moments, we managed to get everything finished just in time to go down and join the end of the communion service.

I hope I have given you a flavour of what goes on upstairs on Sunday mornings and an indication of the thought and care which goes into preparing the sessions.

Marion Jones

March 2006 Youth News

I thought that the Family Service based around the Send a Cow project was a lovely celebration of much that is good about the work which goes on with children and young people in our church.

The total of £1000 had been raised by a variety of methods. Car-washing and sponsoring baubles to hang on the Jesse tree proved popular and the Explorers made and served mince pies. Some of the older teenagers provided the dramatised readings at the Christmas Eve Service where a collection was taken. Collections were also taken at the Sunrise! Christmas Eve service and the 9 Lessons and Carols Service. A lot of adults helped too, by organising activities e.g. the “Drop & Shop” morning (child-care for Christmas shoppers), and by signing the giant church card and making a donation instead of sending cards to church friends. In short, it was a real team effort!

It was good to see a lot of youngsters playing their part in the service at which the cheque was handed over by Phoebe and Lissie to Alan Forward from “Send a Cow”. The musicians, Tara, Ceinwen, Tim, Helen & Caolan were at full strength and the Explorers, made an excellent job of dramatising Send a Cow’s work and explaining it all to us. Thank you Tim, Tim (the other Tim) Daniel and Joseph and especially Rhys. It’s not everyone who can look suave in a black and white bovine number, complete with pink rubber glove udder, but it worked! We learned about how the cow will enrich lives in the village where it is sent. There will be milk, for the family who own the cow, but also for others in the village. They will be able to sell milk, and make money for other things like school fees and food. The family will be shown how to use the manure to improve their crops, making a difference to their diet and health. And when the cow calves, there will be a second animal to give to another family, so the benefits can be spread even further.

I hope you have noticed the display explaining what the children’s groups decided to buy. They opted to send a cow (£750), chickens (£60), a sheep (£35), fruit trees (£30), rabbits (£50), fish for a fishing lake (£25) and a contribution towards training (£40) which will ensure that the families who receive the gifts will be shown how best to use them. Isn’t it amazing how far a little goodwill can spread?

Marion Jones

July 2006 Youth News

The Children’s Fest was, I’m told by all who went, a resounding success. Up to 85 children a day and 35 helpers did so many different things that when I asked lots of people for information they all told me completely different things!

To illustrate the theme of people whose lives were touched by Jesus, a Palestinian village was set up inside the parish church, with three large wooden house faces, and each day a character appeared from one of the houses to tell their story and kick-start the day’s action. On the Monday, Martha (aka Sarah) talked about her busy domestic life and how much time she had spent on chores and work around the house, before realising that other things were important too and learning to spend time listening to Jesus and learning from him. The craft activities for that day followed a domestic theme and included painting spoons, tie-dyeing and making clay pots.

Tuesday’s storyteller was Zaccheus (or Adrian, if you will) and he talked about the day he’d gone to see Jesus arriving in town and was surprised to be chosen as the person whose house Jesus wanted to visit. From Jesus, Zaccheus learned about the joys of giving and sharing, rather than keeping everything for yourself. All the games and activities followed a Roman theme: toga costumes were made from pillow-cases, and shields were painted. The children built a Roman archway of bricks painted with their names and made Roman coins.

On Wednesday David Parsons played a man called Barnabas, who reflected on his childhood and especially remembered the day he’d been to a picnic with his loaves and fish and explained how he too had learned the importance of sharing. The activities had a fish theme and the children iced fish biscuits, made fish mobiles and jewellery and stuck tiles on the huge fish mosaic you may have seen in the Parish Church. Outside there was an anglers’ contest.

I asked a few of the younger children what they had most enjoyed. Jonty was very taken with the Roman games, especially the archery, the tug-of-war and the chance to roll coins along a board with Roman numbers on it and score points. Isaac made a hobby -horse and a threaded necklace, added tiles to the mosaic and iced a good number of biscuits with plenty of decorations. Lucy enjoyed painting a spoon to take home and making a fish fridge magnet and she and Luke also enjoyed decorating biscuits. Frankly, I’m exhausted just thinking about it all. How much more tired must the army of helpers have been? Special thanks, again, to Sarah and Adrian and David and Jenny who put such imagination and creative energy into the whole marvellous project.

To finish, let me mention one or two ways in which people with time to give to the children’s and youth work can contribute in the not-too-distant future. Firstly, we are very keen that those who lead the Sunday groups through the year have a proper break in the summer holidays, so we are looking for people who could do a children’s activity on one Sunday morning in late July or August. Please look out for the rota at the back of the church and sign up. If you need ideas or equipment, please speak to Sarah McConnaughie who has loads of both!

And finally, we need to build up a team of people willing to help organise the monthly all-age service. Sarah will be stepping back from this in September and although a nucleus of people willing to join in already exists, we are all busy people who would welcome more help! So, if you would be willing to do anything towards one of these services, even once during the year, then please let Sarah know. She’s hoping to compile a list of people we can call on, for example to do the prayers or a reading, to organise a drama sketch or a presentation, to do the talk or some of the music, to help the children prepare something or to make props or costumes as required. There really are tasks for everyone and you don’t need to be available every month.

Marion Jones

August 2006 Youth News

It’s always interesting to see how the different Sunday groups do activities appropriate to the age of the children involved. When the Sparklers heard the story of Peter, they coloured in various pictures on a sheet – Peter in chains, Peter being visited by an angel and Peter freed from prison – and folded it up so that it formed a booklet to help them re-tell the story. The All Stars, meanwhile, were acting out the story using finger puppets they had made and then they cut out the week’s memory verse on a strip of paper and made it into a bracelet: ‘I am the first and the last, said the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’ And the Explorers looked at the meeting between Cornelius and Simon Peter as an example of taking God’s word out to the world. They labelled countries on a large map and stuck on pictures to illustrate some of the different needs in different parts of the world. When asked for examples they mentioned the poverty of some sugar farmers in Brazil, the plight of orphans in Eastern Europe and the misuse of weapons in South Africa.

The younger children enjoyed not one, but two, end-of-year frolics. For the last Sunrise! meeting of the school year, they followed the usual service with outdoor games led by Adrian and a brunch cooked by David, Jenny and Karl. Some 60 people enjoyed everything from orange juice and croissants to a full cooked breakfast and it made a lovely end to a really successful year for this group which meets on the first Sunday of each month and will resume on the first Sunday in September. Then, the Explorers had a sleepover at the Mission Church and, too excited to sleep all night, they began with rehearsals for a production of Joseph to show the parents who were picking them up the following morning. A magnificent wig (hair and a beard!!) was made for Alfie, so he looked convincing as Jacob and the children also produced – what else? – a coat of many colours. Jan told parts of the story and David Parsons masterminded a performance of some of the songs. Then they devised a drama to re-tell the arrival of Joseph’s brothers in Egypt. I think there was time for a quick nap before morning and then it was on with the show!

We must say some thank yous at the end of another year, especially to Pam, who has been running the crèche for at least ten years and has finally decided to hand over to someone else. There must be dozens of parents who have been happy to leave little ones with her while they attended the service and some of today’s hulking teenagers began their Mission Church Life in Pam’s crèche. Thank you, Pam, for all the organising, and for your patience and quiet reliability. Julie Day will be taking over, supported by a rota of parents. And thank you too to the teenagers who have helped out in the Sunday groups this year. Abi and Helen will be continuing next year and will be joined by their brothers Dan and Tim, all helping a group once a month, which will make a real difference to the number of adult helpers needed. Thank you to them and a special thank you to Ceinwen, who has been leading an All Stars session every month this year (helped by Abi and Pauline) but will be leaving for university in the autumn.

And lastly, a huge thank you to Sarah, who has been overseeing the youth and children’s work for the last two years as part of her role as a pastoral assistant. It’s quite an operation, providing for everyone from crèche to sixth formers on the 1st, 3rd, 4th and sometimes 5th Sunday of every month … and running a lively social programme alongside. But Sarah has made sure it has happened and brought such lively enthusiasm to the task that we can only marvel at her energy! Thank you from all of us!

Marion Jones

September 2006 Youth News

Summer Sundays

Another summer over! The children were catered for on every Sunday through the holiday, thanks to a band of volunteers. Chris and Gill organised a games session for the first week and Beryl and Jane Tompsett did a session on Africa for the second. They talked about Jane’s work in Africa, including her work for the Leprosy Mission and told the story of Jesus healing the lepers. The third week was an all-age service, during which John did a quiz for the children on how things change (‘What do you get when the sea bashes against the rocks for centuries? And what do you get if you heat sand to a very high temperature?’) and contrasted that with the idea that God doesn’t change, but remains constant. Rob and Bernard planned a story-and-colouring session for week 4 and the Hatreys volunteered en famille for the final week, although I wasn’t able to find out their plans in time for the magazine deadline! But thanks to all concerned.

Holiday Club - Quite a few of the younger children went to the holiday club run at the Baptist Church. It ran for two hours every morning for a week on the theme of ‘Body Builders’ and was set in a fitness centre. Bible stories were told, lots of things were drawn and made and there was an ongoing drama throughout the week. The fitness centre was going to be inspected at the end of the week and the workers were all very nervous. Each day centred on a different worker who was having difficulties and on the way a mystery visitor to the centre helped them each to prepare for the inspection. At the end of the week, the inspector turned up and that was a surprise. The person who had come to judge the workers was the very same person who had been advising and helping all week. Does that remind you of anything?

A Working Summer - Lots of the youngsters have been working through the summer. Ben, Sam, Alastair, Ceinwen and Abi have been busy at Sainsburys, Alex worked at McDonalds, Dan painted lots of fence panels and Helen did some babysitting. Ellie helped to organise the Glastonbury Dance Festival, then worked in Millfield’s marketing department. Becky, Pete, Emma and Fran all joined the Collins family and formed a team of helpers at the various Christian festivals - Soul Survivor, New Wine, Momentum and Greenbelt – where they sold beads, helped with workshops in candle-dipping, tie-dying and silversmithing and took turns on childcare.

Well done! Congratulations to Ellie, who graduated from Cambridge with a degree in English this summer and to Alastair who passed his driving test at the first attempt! I gather he celebrated by driving himself to work the next morning.

Prayer Please. Please pray for those who will have had their exam results by the time you read this and will be planning their next step and for the children who are starting school this month. Angelus Collins will be going to Brookside, where he will be one of the youngest children in the school and Luke Woodward is going to Ashcott where he will be the oldest in the class! And finally, please remember all the church’s children and young people, and those who work with them, as we start another new year.

Marion Jones

December 2006 YOUTH NEWS

Christmas seems a while away at the time of writing in mid-November, but in fact lots of preparations are in hand already. In fact if you are feeling a mite bogged down by it all, be sure to put Sunday January 7th in your diary. Not only might you be re-surfacing by then, but you will also be able to go and watch a salutary tale about being too busy with trivia to enjoy the really important things in life such as the birth of the Saviour. That's the night when all the rehearsing and practising will be over and some of the youngsters, ably aided by some adults, will re-tell the story of Babouschka through song and drama. You have heard the singing group in action at the end of Sunday morning services in the Mission Church, you will have had a taste of what's to come, so do go along and enjoy the final results. That's Sunday 7th of January at 6.00pm in the Parish Church. And refreshments will be served afterwards in aid of Edward Barasa, our sponsored child in Kenya. The same singers will be presenting six Christmas Carols at the Parish Church on the evening of December l7th.

In the run-up to Christmas, there will naturally be a little partying*. A Murder Mystery Meal is planned for the older teenagers, complete with costumes, food and dark deeds to be unravelled. Younger members will go bowling at Taunton's Superbowl instead, on Saturday December 2nd. There will also be a tea and games party on Saturday December 16th at the Mission Church. This is aimed mainly at the smaller children who will combine the frolics with a practice for their contribution to the Family Service on Sunday 17th, when they will perform a nativity play for us.

On Christmas Eve, there will be several different services. The Mission Church's 10.30am Service will be an all-age affair, led by John Greed. Sunrise! invite under-eights and their families to a crib service in the Parish Church at 4.00 pm and for those With older children or teenagers, there will also be a service aimed especially at them at 6.00pm in the Mission Church.

In addition, Walton Church will be holding a Christingle service at 4. 00 pm.

Don't forget that many of the older teenagers will be home from university for Christmas, If you are interested in what they have been doing since September, do stop them and ask! And could you also remember Helen in your prayers, because she has been stuck at home with glandular fever and needs to get back to health ... and school, where she is supposed to be studying for GCSEs in the summer.

Happy Christmas!

Marion Jones

PS ** Someone reading the asterisked sentence over my shoulder as I was typing said 'I thought it said. "There will naturally be a little praying." A little Food for thought, no?