Monday 22nd – Wednesday 24th October 2018
Venue:
Castlerigg Manor is the Lancaster Diocesan youth retreat centre with a rich history of working with young people over the last 50 years. It is hugely popular with schools and groups of the Diocese and beyond, and is usually fully booked a year in advance. We have been fortunate enough to secure this time during half term for our retreat. It is a fantastic place with a games room, lots of outdoor space and spectacular views! Of course, there is also a beautiful Chapel as well as lots of bedrooms, showers and toilets, and a dining room.
Activities:
This retreat is a great opportunity for our young people to escape from the day-to-day routine of life. Time away gives us a chance to re-evaluate where our lives are going, to reflect and learn about ourselves, each other and about our relationship with God. As well as lots of exciting ways of exploring our theme through games, workshops, group work and prayer we will also enjoy some time outdoors. There will also be plenty of time to relax and socialise.
Cost:
£100 per person. This includes all accommodation and input as well as food and travel. We appreciate that this is a big cost especially for families where there may be siblings who wish to attend. Please see the Fundraising PDF for details of how you can help reduce this amount. We do not want anyone to miss out so please talk to us if you have any concerns.
Timing:
We will be leaving St Clare’s at 11 am on Monday and will return again to St Clare’s on Wednesday at 6 pm.
Team:
The Retreat will be led by Joe and Ruth White and Nora Lord from Metanoia Project who lead the ‘Seekers’, ‘Anointed’ and ‘Sent’ youth groups. We will also be assisted by our fantastic ‘YOKE’ Young Leaders.
See the fun we had on last years Autumn retreat.
If you are interested please download leaflet and fill in this reply slip and return it to Joe and Ruth White at Metanoia Project as soon as possible and no later than Sunday 7th October 2018.
Our wonderful Young Leaders decided that we needed a summer ball so they set about planning and organising an extravaganza with music, food, an impossible quiz (thanks Anto), games, decorations and even a photo booth. The ball was for all our young people aged 14+ and included some of the gang who were back from University too. It was a brilliant night with lots of fun and I was struck by the love the young people have for one another with younger members immediately included in their family. Special mention and thanks go to Tushar who carried the vision and made it happen. I think the video of unedited pictures captures the evening quite well…
We’ve had a wonderful year with our Seekers, Anointed and Sent youth groups who continue to astound us with their dedication, eagerness to seek God, love for one another and openness to all Jesus wants to
In May we started a second Seekers group based in a different Parish – St Andrew’s in Cottam. It is early days and it has had a bit of a slow start but we are hopeful that when we return in September it will go from strength to strength. We’ve loved getting to know the new children who attend and look forward to walking with them in the years ahead.
We had a fantastic time in June with 8 Primary School afternoon visits and a whole day with around 60 Year 3s from the Small Schools Cluster. We explored themes from trusting in God to following Jesus to the Eucharist! The children loved their sessions and joined in so well. They had some amazing ideas and answers too. Our Yoke 
Young Leaders helped us to lead the days which added a boost of energy too. These sessions were so successful that we are now looking at setting aside regular time each week to work with Primary Schools. 
There has been so much going on over the past few months that there has been no time to write about any of it!! A huge bit of brilliant news though is that Nora Lord joined our team here in April as Children and Families Coordinator. We are very blessed to have her with us and to receive the benefit of her enthusiasm, joy and hard work. There are already a few new plans in the pipeline and we can’t wait to see the impact Nora has on our ministry. Please keep her (and all of us) in your prayers.
Last night the Seekers Youth Group spent the evening using up huge amounts of energy at Rascals play centre. Having the place to ourselves meant that there was more than enough room on the climbing frames, slides, trampolines, scramble nets etc to keep the young people entertained for a couple of hours only stopping half way through for pizza and chips followed by jelly and ice cream. 
Everyone had a fantastic time – we managed to get one sensible photo of them all but the following photo probably captures their personality and their evening more accurately!
In February Half-Term we took our young leaders away for a retreat full of teaching, prayer, creativity and training. They responded so well with their openness to the Spirit, their love for one another and all their hard work. We stayed with Fr Philip Conner (and of course Bosco the dog) at St Joseph’s in Lancaster where we were made to feel really welcome and at home. The church in Preston is blessed to have such a dedicated, talented and holy bunch of young people who are leading the way for others. Here are what a few of them said:
Having spent a frantic few weeks fundraising, the staff and pupils at Corpus Christi High School presented us with 20 Rucksacks all full of underwear, socks, sleeping bags, chocolate, t-shirts, shower gel and a New Testament. They also had a few items spare! We were blown away by their efforts and generosity especially in such a short space of time. The people who attend our Wednesday Drop-In were delighted to receive such a useful gift for Christmas and were so touched by the love and care that was demonstrated to them. If you would like to be involved in a similar project in the future then please get in touch.
On Wednesday 29th November 32 young people from the Seekers youth group came with us to Energi Trampoline Park. This group have huge amounts of energy to burn off so this was the ideal place for them! I was very impressed by the skills that many of them had – including even a backward somersault landed perfectly by one of them! I have lots of very blurred photos from trying to capture their fun as they moved way too quickly for my skills…However here are a few that came out okay. It was a great evening with lots of very hot and tired young people at the end!
