Summer School 2010
Daisie Tranah and Helen Pearson combine to tell us about SS10
Daisie 3rd from the right standing
Helen 3rd from the left
Summer School is a summer camp week for the youth of the London South East Salvation Army. It took place at Vinehall Boarding School near Hastings, with about 80 students from all over the division. Chatham was represented by Daisie, Helen, Luke, Axl and Adam. It was Daisie’s third Summer School, and Helen’s first.
This year’s theme was ‘The Event’, focusing on Jesus’ death and resurrection from Mark’s Gospel. We focused on different miracles every day, and finally the resurrection on the last day. During the week, we had subjects that we worked on for the final celebration – these were called specialisms. You could choose two specialisms out of Vocals, Brass, Dance, Drama, Media, Sport, Leadership and Alternative Worship. Daisie did Vocals and Alternative Worship and enjoyed all the singing but was not happy when she got a cold, since she used her voice for both! Helen did Dance and Drama and loved Dance in particular, learning how dance can be used as worship. In Drama mime and “freeze frames” were used to depict different Bible passages.
An important part of the week was the worship meetings, as everyone was inspired and no one felt self-conscious, and we were warmed up by a game of “Just Dance” on the Wii every morning!
After the morning gathering, we met in our Cell groups- a small group of about 8 people, and discussed the Bible verses and themes of the day. We looked at the themes more deeply later in the day in “devos”, with two staff members.
It was an amazing fun filled and Spirit led week, and we all brought home some amazing memories. Daisie’s favourite moment was the night when a lot of us saw a meteor shower: this reminded her that it is amazing that God is bothered about us, when we are so small compared to His creation. Helen’s favourite was the worship meetings, together with learning and performing a dance as a group.
Formal?
Another highlight of the week was the food, which we all enjoyed! This was especially so on Friday when we had our formal “Summer School Graduation” meal, at the end of which we were presented with our Summer School T-shirt! The design on the front of the t-shirt reads 1 + 3 = 4, the one being us, the three the trinity, and the 4 a 4, but also the cross.
The Tee
On the last day we had the Final Celebration in which we performed or spoke about all of Specialisms, and had a chance to show our families what we had been doing all week. This was very successful, and we all look forward to Summer School 2011!