Bathwick Benefice Youth Club
At present not available
This club meets every first Saturday in the month between 5.00pm and 7.30pm at St Mary’s Bathwick, Church Hall. It is open to all young people with association to St Mary’s or St John’s, Bathwick and aged School Year 4 and over. Subscription is £3.00 per person.
The youth club belongs to the young people who set their own club rules at the first meeting. The leaders are there to inspire, facilitate and keep them safe but within reason the members determine what they do.
There are plenty of things to do: table tennis, pool, playstation, lots of board and card games, football, badminton, rounders and more.
The leaders have plenty of games up their sleeves but if the members want to ‘chill’ with their friends everyone is happy.
A major feature is that at each meeting we have a shared meal. This has ranged from self-filled rolls, wraps or self topped pizzas to barbecue, chilli, pasta and cottage pie.
Having raised money at a cake sale to obtain a licence to watch DVDs we must have a film evening soon. This was popular last year with a Frozen Sing Along and the first part of the Hobbit.
We try and get out when possible, making use of the garden and using the local parks. We have also had a trip to the cinema.
Our meetings end similarly each time as we sit in a circle and pass a candle while sharing our own thoughts and problems.
All leaders have had an enhanced DBS check
Some of our memorable meetings (Click on date below)
This was our first meeting so we needed to do quite a lot of talking about what was wanted and how we were going to run things. We discussed a name for the youth club but couldn't come to a decision. We also discussed some rules and what other equipment we would need. This all sounds pretty boring but there was still plenty of time for fun. Some took a ball outside and others discovered a new skill in making loom band jewellery. There was some comfy cushions to just sit around and chat and others played on a wii.
We finished the evening with a time for reflection as a candle was passed around as we all sat in a big circle. If we wished we were able to share our thoughts with everyone though there was no pressure to say anything out loud. Everyone wishes to thank the PCC for providing the Domino Pizzas.
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Playing on the new pool table
This was our second meeting. I think everyone was amazed at how the leaders had managed to acquire most of the items that had been asked for at the first meeting. A table-tennis table had been kindly given by Mrs Doreen Winnicott. Funds had been found to purchase a new pool table. Other leaders had scoured their houses and found most of the board games that had been suggested. Numbers had increased from the first meeting and there were now over twenty young people present. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, enjoying new or increasing friendship.
All seemed to be getting on well with one another and shared the new items with unexpected tolerance. Loom bands was still a popular activity and there were some unexpected participants.
I thought it was easy. Now what do I do?
Thanks to Mike and Jane for cooking the barbecue. All seemed to enjoy the burgers or hotdogs or both.
The meeting ended as previously with the opportunity for a moment of reflection and a time to convey our thoughts to all present if wanted
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What had started originally as a bonfire party to burn some wood cleared from the Rectory garden escalated into a firework party. Well it was close to November 5th! It was decided to make this a family evening and as the choir had held firework parties at the Rectory previously they were invited too.
Thanks to Clare, food was cooked in the Rectory kitchen and mulled wine was provided for our adult guests with soft drinks for our younger members. The toffee apples that Clare had made went down extremely well!
We sought the assistance of Tim Barratt to purchase and let off the fireworks, ably assisted by Andy Parker. Thanks to you both.
The fireworks were excellent and appreciated by all.
We managed to fulfill our original aim by lighting a large bonfire getting rid of that unwanted wood.
About fifty people came and had an enjoyable evening
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Coming up to Christmas it seemed a good idea to have an evening out. One of the original suggestions was to have a trip to the cinema and with the Christmas films around it seemed a good idea. This proved a little difficult to plan as the cinema doesn't publish what it is showing on a Saturday until the Tuesday before. This meant that the film that we were originally going to see "Nativity 3, Dude, where's my donkey" was not showing at the right time for the youth group. Fortunately a new film "Get Santa" had started that week and in hindsight was probably the better film. Lots of emails passed round quickly and in the end seventeen young members of the youth group were deposited at the Odeon Cinema by their parents at about 5.00pm. Popcorn and sweets were purchased in anticipation of watching a great film and it proved to be. It was funny and entertaining and enjoyed by all. Everyone was collected safely afterwards having had a good time. To see a trailer of the film we watched go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2EFmDpNqd8
Thanks to our adult leaders, Maurice, Mike, Jane, Fr. Peter and Charles for making everything go smoothly and a thank you to all our young members who came, who behaved superbly and were a great asset to themselves, the church and the youth club.
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The wii is always popular
We had twenty young members at our meeting on 3rd January. All seemed to have had a good Christmas and New Year but were pleased to be at Youth Club. Some unfortunately didn't make it this time as they were still busy with family or traveling back from their holidays.
Those that came had a good time making good use of the equipment available. The pool table and table-tennis table were rarely unused and the wii was as always in popular demand.
What if I play this card?
Board games were used. Four playing with scrabble on the floor and other groups playing "pass the pig" and "uno". Others seemed happy just chatting to their friends and consuming sweets and drinks bought at the ever popular tuck shop.
What if I put down this word?
We had a break this time and all sat down at a long table for our lasagne and garlic bread kindly cooked by Dilwen and Jane.
After our meal we sat down in a large circle and talked about the coming festival of Epiphany. We talked about a custom widely used on the continent of chalking a specific message on the lintels above our home doors and saying a prayer to call upon the three Magi, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar to intercede on our behalf as we pray for blessing on our homes during 2015. Fr Peter blessed some chalk and this and the prayer were available at the end of the meeting for people to take home.
Pool Champion?
After another period of free time we finished our meeting in what is becoming our accustomed time of reflection.
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Today we made use of Henrietta Park for an outdoor meeting. The weather was gorgeous and we had a good number of members enjoying the event. Things started off with the ubiquitous football but the main event was a rounders match. Everyone joined in, leaders and young people, all taking part in a fun evening. All this exercise had made everyone hungry and Maurice went round to Domino's Pizza and brought back a mountain of pizza enough to satisfy everyone. A good time was had by all and we may try to make this an annual event.
This was the first meeting of the new school year. Many of the members had moved from primary to secondary education and they did not all go to the same school. The youth club meeting provided a means for them to renew friendships and it was very rewarding to see them so pleased to see one another again. Hopefully future meetings will allow them to continue long friendships.
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Like last year this meeting was a bonfire and firework party held at the Rectory thanks to Fr Peter Edwards and Clare Edwards who kindly provided the food. The event was opened to members of the choir and also young servers.
Thanks to Andy Parker who purchased the fireworks and put together the display which was admired by all.
We had set the timing as early as we could because there were other displays on this day but many must have chosen to go to these other displays and unfortunately insufficient participation meant that we made a large loss (fireworks are so expensive).
We will have to think very carefully next year if financially we can put on a similar event.
This year we held a Christmas Party. It was supposed to be a fancy dress party with everyone dressed up as a pantomime character. Dilwen had recently broken her ankle and added to her big boot by adding a cat costume and mask to become puss in boots. Maurice came in wig and one of Dilwen's evening dresses as one of the ugly sisters. The costume was finished off with hiking boots and socks. Thank goodness nobody brought a camera. Unfortunately although we had a good turn out of members including some friends nobody else dressed up. They had chickened out.
Never mind a good time was had by all. We had decorated the hall with lights and balloons. There was plenty of party food and we all had fun playing games.
I think everyone went away having had a great time.
It was time to replace one or two pieces of equipment.
A new net and post set for the table tennis made it much easy to set up and meant that it wasn't falling down all the time.
The wii that was now showing signs of wear was replaced by a preowned PlayStation 3 and a few games like Fifa15 and London 2012 which seemed to prove very popular.
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Things we are thinking of doing
A walk (maybe sponsored) along the canal towpath to Bathampton and back? Maybe with some chips on the way?
A parish picnic in one of the local parks with invitation to all the rest of the congregation.
'Pizzas in the Park'. A repeat of the meeting that we had last year which proved very popular with those who came. With games like football and rounders and then finished off with a good fill of Dominos Pizzas.
Having raised money with a cake sale towards a performing artists licence we need to have a film evening while we still have dark, winter nights before the lighter evenings let us get outside.
We are looking into the possibility of taking a small group to the Youth Pilgrimage at Walsingham.