DISTRICT YOUTH WEEKEND
Salisbury 25th - 27th February 2005
Youth Xpress was the first District Youth Weekend that we've had in our Southampton Methodist District for about 9 years. Suzannah and I were part of a small planning group who met fairly regularly to plan, co-ordinate and generally facilitate the event. Over 100 young people plus their leaders packed out Salisbury Methodist Church for a great weekend of creativity, fun and worship.
The theme of the weekend was about expressing your creativity
and there were many opportunities to do this. On the Saturday people could
choose to do two of the following workshops;
“Acting Up”
Whether you’re a budding actor, a drama queen, or anything in between, here’s your chance to start Acting Up! Come along and X-Press yourself in a fast-moving and fun-filled hour of drama
“Express Yourself”
You don’t need to be Madonna to join in this workshop led by members of the Portsmouth Youth Choir.
“Get Crafty”
You have one hour to X-Press yourself. How much stuff can you make? All materials provided.
“Hand in Hand”
A workshop with the ‘hand in hand’ puppet team from Eastleigh. X-Press yourself through the mouth and body of a puppet!
“Junk Funk”
X-Press yourself creatively with junk and make funk! No musical ability required - just energy and creativity!
“Strictly Get Dancing!”
Whether you’re a budding Billy Elliott or have feet that seem to go in the wrong direction when anyone suggests dancing, here’s your chance to have a go with the Sonshine Dance Group from Romsey.
There are photographs of some of the workshops in action which you can see here. When the young people were not in their workshops they were Ten Pin Bowling. There were also lots of images to look at on laptop screens, blowing bubbles and huge graffiti boards which were scattered around the corridors and which many people used.
On the Saturday night we had a barn dance which was really well received with the vast majority of people at least giving it a go (even me!). Sunday morning was our act of worship which incorporated items from several of the workshops and was a brilliant experience.
The young people and leaders all completed evaluation forms before they went home to help us to improve on what we did in any subsequent event. The overwhelming feedback however was that it had been a really great time which was certainly worth repeating.