A children's day whose character was set by the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass ... 
... fun and fellowship ...
... and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
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 N SATURDAY
JUNE 19th 2004, more than 250 children - aged 5 to 18 years - descended on Brean Leisure Park in Somerset for the
Ebbsfleet Children's Festival.
There had been ten celebrations to mark the ten years of the See of Ebbsfleet, and the tenth one was this Children's
Festival.
Children came from Stafford and Exeter; Wolverhampton, and Coventry as well as many other parishes from the Ebbsfleet
Apostolic District.
The day began with Mass and lunch before the children attacked the various Fun Parks at Brean, and it ended with
Benediction at 5pm.
The Bishop of Ebbsfleet, The Right Reverend Andrew Burnham SSC, told the children how Mary and Joseph lost, then found,
the young Jesus on a visit to Jerusalem and the Temple.
Music was provided by Fr Gary Buckby SSC of S Thomas Longford, Coventry and by the choirs of Emmanuel Wylde Green,
Sutton Coldfield.
As each child left for home they received a take-home bag containing a drink, sweets and a competition for the journey
home.
250 children returned home, very tired, but very happy. It had been a splendid day made possible by the generous
financial support of C.B.S., the Forward in Faith Diocesan Committees, and Forward in Faith National.
The winners of the Take-Home Competition were as follows.
(Each receives a £10 WH Smiths voucher.)
Catherine Joyce - Wylde Green
Ben Bowker - Milton Keynes
Alex West - Up Hatherley
Marianne Ball - Willenhall
Megan Coombes - Exwick, Exeter
Our Trip To The Ebbsfleet Children's Eucharistic Festival
After a long, hard journey to Brean Leisure Park, we were just in time to be quarter of an hour late for the opening 12
o'clock Mass. We did however arrive in time to sing Shine Jesus Shine, our current favourite hymn.
Those who went to Walsingham will identify with the feelings of wondering whether you'll arrive in time, but thanks to
a few prayers on the M5, the traffic turned out to be less of a problem than it might have been and we didn't miss too
much.
We were greeted with a very different set up from what we're used to with an OHP projecting the words of the songs and
service, band music, flashing disco lights as well as traditional candles and arranged flowers. 250 people packed into
a bingo hall is also quite a sight. There was an unusual machine that looked like it was dispensing dry ice but was in
fact blowing out incense, in time with significant parts of the service. We all felt we were part of something
special.
After weeks of hot sunshine there was a huge shower just as the service finished so we took the opportunity to picnic
in the Jesters bingo hall, queued up for a wrist band for the fun fair rides and then set off to see what was on
offer.
After a gentle ride on the Carousel, James, Ben and Matt went on the Dodgems, Anya, Gemma and Mel went on a big
"Swizzler" and Phillipa had more sense and waited for us to stagger off! We did various roller coasters
including one which span like a waltzer as well as diving and climbing and generally had a good time.
Anya won the screaming contest, Phillipa and Gemma the sensible contest and Ben the wettest from the water ride. We all
had a great time trampolining before heading off for the swimming pools.
There was a small, warm indoor pool, busy with bathers and a larger, VERY cold outdoor pool that was practically empty.
The Bowker children jumped in the icy cold then Ben decided Phillipa and Anya shouldn't miss out and "helped
them" take the plunge! All the children went on the water slides and had great fun.
Out of the pool at 4.40pm to get changed to go back into the bingo hall for Benediction at 5pm.
Having only been to Benediction once before (at Walsingham) we were interested to see how this would be made
"child friendly". Fr Crane introduced what would happen and in a very jolly way set an expectation of 10
minutes of quiet - it was a very short service which our young children said was boring but which the older children
said proved to be "very spiritual and brought us closer to Jesus, our Lord."
At the end we were given See of Ebbsfleet carrier bags with take home gifts of drinks, sweets and colouring things.
Overall we had a great day and we can't wait until next year.
Written by Ben, Gemma, James, Anya, Phillipa, Melanie and Matt in the car on the way home, Saturday June 19th
AD2004 |
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