REPORT FROM SUMMER SCHOOL

A few weeks ago Faith, Mini and myself attended the London South East Summer School from the 7th to the 14th of August. Each year it’s held at Vinehall Boarding School in Hastings. It’s attended by young people between the ages of 13 to 25 from various Salvation Army churches in the division.


This year we had new directors for summer school with Nicola Brooksbank the Corps officer from Crawley being one of them. Working with a team of staff they put up a programme of activities for the week, which enabled us to have great fun. Each day we got together for morning gathering where we heard news for the day and spent some time in fellowship led by a worship band. Following on this we had cell group meetings made up of young people of the same age. In the cell groups we looked at the theme for summer school which was ‘The Event’. To help us get a better understanding of what this theme meant. Throughout the week we studied the gospel of Mark, focusing on some of the significant encounters that Jesus had leading to the event his crucifixion and resurrection. Later in the day we got together again in our cell groups with two members of staff to talk through questions, thoughts and reflect on the theme of the day. The most important lesson we learnt from this was that Jesus Christ overcame the power of death through his resurrection from the tomb. He proved that there is no power that can overcome him, that he has the authority to forgive the sins of people, and that he is the one and only Son of God.

The three of us did the same specialism’s this year playing in the brass band and singing in the gospel choir. The other specialism’s included leadership, sport, media and alternative worship. We spent an hour and & half each on our two chosen specialism learning new pieces of music in preparation for final celebration. In the band we learnt how to march whilst playing for the first time which was not easy but enjoyable. In the evening we had pm gathering where we relaxed and enjoyed different activities each night. We had a quiz, talent night, silent disco, barbeque night, and heard from a guest speaker. Although with such a busy schedule we still had some free time for fun and games if we wanted to take part. We did manage to take part in a dodge ball and ultimate frisbee tournament which was great fun. On the last day of summer school we had a final celebration. This was a great chance to for family and friends to see what was going out throughout the week. We do look forward to going there next year. Thank you for listening.