Thanks to grants from the United Reformed Church (URC) Children’s and Youth Work (CYW) Team, 15 clubs were supported this summer with a grant of either £50 or £100.
For some churches, this was their first holiday club while others had been established for some time.
The crafts, activities and games offered at the clubs opened up opportunities for young people to create friendships and promoted healthy living.
Here’s a round-up of holiday club news. Details of how to apply for a grant will follow.
Holiday Club resources
‘Snapshots’ is a free downloadable resource for those running holiday clubs for children aged between 5-11 years of age. It ties in with the CYW theme for the 2023, Love is…
Dalton Community Church in North Western Synod, Sawston Free Church and Kelvedon URC in Eastern Synod, Vine Church in Thames North Synod all used Snapshots. Whereas, Hutton and Shenfield Union Church in Eastern Synod and opted for “Time Travellers” which focused on the characters from the old testament. Others chose themes such as creation, parables/ miracles of Jesus, life of Moses, Romans 12:2.
Grants
The grants paid to churches helped to provide resources and, often, food and refreshments for children and their families to enjoy.
Park URC hosted children from refugee families and offered a two-course meal to all , a collection of churches which worked together to host holiday clubs, were able to include young adults in their volunteer team and Trinity Church Stafford in West Midlands Synod ran a community-based club which focused on craft and baking.
Matlock URC were able fund spaces and activities for toddlers in their sessions.
Cannington URC in South Western Synod and included the parents and extended family in their Sunday celebration and within the week’s activities itself.
St George’s URC and Morpeth Methodist Church, both in , were able to run a club for the first time and titled their holiday club week ‘Global Guardians’ all activities focused on looking after the world.
Saughtonhall URC in Edinburgh titled theirs ‘The Greatest Showman’ and had a circus theme. The young people enjoyed learning new circus skills and also learnt how to sign their theme song using British Sign Language. After exploring the Old Testament characters based around a record breakers theme, the children of Ottery St Mary URC all took a medal home at the end of the week.
Members of a holiday club at URC in Bridgewater, Somerset produced an all-ability mini show about the life of Joseph.
All holiday clubs were able to run with the support of their volunteers, churches, CYDO+ team, CYW team and the funding available.