Garden for the Children

We’re trying to persuade the local council who manage the cemetery adjacent to the Church to use a corner for a garden for the youngsters. Helen’s idea – the proposal is to have a wild garden and a more formal area. The wild garden would have bird boxes, bat boxes and rotting wood to encourage insects. We already have a rare butterfly - the white hairstreak – living in some elms in the Churchyard. The local natural society is planning to plant some more elm trees to maintain the colony. The butterfly only lives on elms and, not surprisingly, has suffered since Dutch elm disease.

The second part of the garden would have raised beds so that the children can grow some flowers and small vegetables. The area proposed for the garden is adjacent to the by-pass. The proposals have met with a very positive enthusiastic response from lots of people. We’ve had e-mails offering to sow extra seeds or give spare plants and the raised beds are already committed.

I’ve had an initial informal meeting with some of the council representatives – they happened to be in the cemetery when I was visiting the Church. I sense that the wild garden is not an issue because it’s in an area that is already fairly wild – to the left of the photo below. However, I sense some unease about the raised beds: we clearly need to ensure that any planting is sensitive: no beans or similar tall plants and nothing that makes the place look untidy. It also needs not to look inappropriate from the adjacent cemetery.

I hope we manage to persuade the councils of the value of this to the community because I’m sure that many people – not just the youngsters – will benefit.

Watoto Choir

We went to Watford today and who was singing in the Harlequin but the Watoto Choir. They were inspirational. Perhaps we can get them to our Church again?

Zone plus - winning photos

Last Saturday, Anna was presented with her prize for winning in two categories of the photography competition.

For bigger versions, click on any of these images.

Children

Over two weeks with no comment. I think I’ve surfaced after Zone Plus – but Helen is already booking the summer event. After several false starts, we’ve decided on the two days after the summer bank holiday – 31 August and 1 September. We have to move out of Church because the contractors are starting work on the clerestory windows so it’s not really practical to have children running round the Church. So it’s the Oldham Hall and school grounds. We’re widening the age range a little – allowing younger children to participate. One of the interesting factors of the first week was that virtually all the participants were organised by their parents. I had expected a number of older teenagers to pop in. Perhaps in the summer things will be different.

We’ve also been focussing on younger children in Church during the last few weeks. We’re trying to revitalise Junior Church – for the youngest members. We’ve had some good workshops. We’ve been missing active leadership for this age group but things are slowly dropping into place. I had an email from one of the mums today saying that her daughter – now a teenager – is full of ideas for the little ones. We need to find a way of tapping this enthusiasm without disrupting school and exam pressures! I don’t know how teenagers communicate these days: I hear they’ve gone beyond Facebook (“ that’s for parents now”) I’ve suggested a pizza with some of the young Zone Plus helpers to get ideas for new activities in the summer. Perhaps this is the way. I’ll keep you posted.

Communicating with adults is no better these days. We’re well into the Blackberry/IPhone era but people still don’t know what’s going on. Perhaps that’s the problem: information overload.

Connecting with youngsters - and their parents

How do we connect with people these days? Improved communications (e-mail, text, smart phones) should make things better but they don't appear to do so. Is it a case of 'less is more'?

Zone Plus

We made it!

The pictures say it all...

Zone Plus days 2 and 3

The Urban Strides workshops yesterday were really what Zone Plus is all about: the youngsters actively participating, comfortable with each other and the environment and enjoying it. The instructor Natalie was fantastic, very professional and with a very good rapport with the youngsters. I’m not sure that the music would go down well with some of the congregation and Liam would be challenged on the organ!

Today was quiet – but with wonderful weather. The cycle track was busy all afternoon (including some interlopers) and Lucy and Andrew were kept busy with the bellringing.

Only one more day but I think we’ve already achieved some things. We’ve seen new people in Church and we’ve seen some of these develop over the week. There’s also been lots of networking amongst the helpers and visitors’ parents. And all the helpers – who’ve been great – have enjoyed themselves and many have asked for similar activities for grown-ups. More of this later but plans are being hatched for a whole range of activities for the 17+ age group. Not an intensive week like Zone Plus but throughout the year – perhaps in support of one of the windows. There’ve been several suggestions and requests – another Urban Strides session, organised walks, coach trips, outings on the river and canal... All these will be under the umbrella of... – we’re still thinking: Twilight Zone didn’t seem right, O-Zone is the current favourite – unless you have a better suggestion.

Tomorrow we have gra... sorry, street art and the climbing wall. I hope a good end to a fun week.

Zone Plus day 3

There are more pictures on the Zone Plus web site www.zoneplus.org.uk

Zone Plus day 2

Mike’s photo workshop was well attended by a serious gang of budding photographers. They all concentrated through Mike’s description of aperture settings, focus, exposure and so on. And they all participated in his fun exercises – one of which involved Liam hiding behind safety goggles and a pillow.





The afternoon brought two sessions with Urban Strides, the Street Dance compay from Wycombe. Andy Instone who founded the company is a local boy – he went to The Mibourne. His instructor this afternoon, Natalie, was fantastic: she got the youngsters really going in each of the one-hour workshops.

Many of the adults present want us to get Natalie back when we have the grown-up version of Zone Plus!

Zone Plus has started

Today saw the first day of Zone Plus. The cycle track was quiet in spite of wonderful weather but the drama was buzzing. We had 17 youngsters of varying ages. They all got on very well and the older ones were extremely helpful. But as someone commented: if you go in for drama you’re not the quiet retiring type! They did a series of exercises in groups and then developed an improvised playlet which they performed just before the end of the event.

Many of the participants and their parents were not known to us in Church so we’re achieving our aims of getting new people.

Helen had time to take young Anna round the bike track.



More pictures - click on the image to see them:

Zone Plus day 1

Easter day

...started at 6am with a damp dawn service: not many of the candles stayed alight for the walk up to St Peter & St Paul, Gt Missenden. The 10:00 service was great: a very full Church, joyful thanks to Elizabeth and Jo (on her birthday, it turns out). Liam and the choir were on form in their quick rehearsal before the service...




as were the bellringers.

Then off to Leicester for the Ginger Princess’s birthday party: 2 yesterday.

All very sustaining.

Now for Zone Plus: a day recovering and preparing tomorrow (later today – it’s 00:35) then off we go on Tuesday morning.

After Easter – Zone Plus

The main reason for the blog to be rather sporadic over the last few weeks is the time I’ve been spending on Zone Plus. This is a week (actually four days) of fun for 10 th 16 year olds in Church after Easter Monday. A few of us were inspired by Malmesbury Abbey Skate where the built a skate park in the Abbey for a few days during the February half term. “What a way of getting youngsters into Church” we thought. Zone Plus grew from there. We don’t actually have a skate park but we do have a climbing wall, a drama day, street dance and street art workshops (I’m not allowed to call the latter graffiti – there is a fear that the gable ends in Gt Missenden will soon be covered! The bellringers are inviting youngsters to have a go, we have a mini spa for the girls and we have a cycle track.

This was today’s excitement: the track arrived and has been set up ready adjacent to the tower. Cyclist Will has tried it out – and his fixed grin while he did so was wonderful. Helen, who has done all the arrangements for this particular activity was also visibly excited today. I just hope we get the weather to make the most of it.

More Easter

A month or so ago I visited Stony Dean School in Amersham. The Young Enterprise company here have been very active with a whole range of products and services. They make the Holding Crosses we give children who are baptized in Church and I was collecting the latest supply. They were taking orders for simnel cakes. I collected my two cakes today. One has gone to the children but we have the other. We seem to be missing the chicken and the number of eggs is not quite right – but it’s still an enterprising activity. Wendy has commissioned a larger cross for the office. The school is given pieces of timber, some offcuts and some new. Wendy chose a piece of English Oak. I’ll report when the cross arrives.

Here’s our cake.

Tonight was the second – and last – performance of the Passion Play. Lots more photos below. It’s also featured on Bishop Alan’s Blog at http://bishopalan.blogspot.com/2010/03/passion-play-in-great-missenden.html

Passion Play 2

Capture Easter

Tonight was the first night of the Passion Play. An experience for all: audience and particularly the cast. The Lent card I’m trying to follow has the suggestion “Use a digital camera to find images that capture Lent/Easter” I think these images do.


More pictures here.

Passion Play

Nearly two weeks...

... with no blog entries! It’s been a busy time: getting ready for Zone Plus, building a tomb for the Passion play, hospital visits for cousin Tony. So not a lot of time for Sustaining the Sacred Centre. I’ve looked at the list of activities again - "Listen to some music you've never heard before."

Last evening we went to the Aylesbury Choral Society’s concert at the Aylesbury College. They performed Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers – a piece of music I hadn’t heard before. The Choral Soc where joined by six professional soloists and were accompanied by the Gonzaga Band – a group of musicians playing contemporary instruments (contemporary with Monteverdi, that is) – sackbuts, cornetts (sic), a chamber organ and a theorbo. The whole evening was fascinating: the harmonics of the singers with the authentic sounds of the band. The entire work was sung in Latin – although the programme had a translation. It brought back a few memories of my O-level!

Contrasting with the 17th century music was the location of the concert – the atrium of the new Aylesbury College. Acoustically the space is variable – we sat in a low-ceilinged part of the atrium for an earlier concert but last night we were in the open area and the sound was much better. The space is very asymmetrical – a three- storey interior space between a flat wall and a curved wall with the now almost compulsory curtain wall suspended on a complex framework.

A very enjoyable – and sustaining – evening.