Over four mornings in early August, St Mary’s Church was transformed for our annual Holiday Club for primary school children, which this year took the theme of a film set, complete with director’s chair, megaphone, clapperboard and dressing table. As the 100 children arrived each morning they completed activities at their team tables before a helper made themselves up as a clown to signal the start of the programme. Our Team Rector, Revd. Philip Ritchie, assumed the role of director for the week, introducing the activities which included a daily dvd and Director’s Chair section where God’s great plan for his world was explained through key Bible stories, starting with Creation, then the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. The children arrived on a very wet Thursday morning to find the stage set with a Christmas tree and decorations as we looked at the birth of Jesus and on Friday Easter eggs and banners helped focus our minds on Jesus dying and coming back to life again to complete God’s rescue plan.

A mixture of noisy energetic worship songs and quieter songs to help calm proceedings were all brilliantly led by Lysney Crisp whose enthusiasm encouraged everybody, children and adults alike, to join in. Competition was fierce as the four teams of Actors, Directors, Musicians and Singers battled during a daily team game catching balls in buckets to win sweets and showing off their team chants. The children tried equally hard to recall the daily Bible memory verses.

Each day the children got to choose a craft activity, which included making and decorating biscuits, sock puppets, hama beads, shoebox theatres, masks, edible microphones, shakers made from pringle tubes and a dance workshop featuring music from The Lion King; all these activities gave the children opportunities to explore their creativity and their finished creations were proudly taken home.

Our week concluded with a family picnic on the Friday lunchtime and a Holiday Club Praise Service on the Sunday morning, where we learnt that God has a plan for each of us and were able to share the Holiday Club activities with the Church family through a fantastic powerpoint presentation of photos taken throughout the week.

Holiday Club would not be possible without an army of dedicated volunteers and this year was no exception – almost 60 adults and teenage helpers were involved, planning and sourcing craft activities, preparing refreshments and supporting the children throughout. Thank you to everybody who helped and to the fantastic group of children who made up this year’s SHOWSTOPPERS! Holiday Club – you are all stars!

Watch this space for details of our Holiday Club 2012!