Posted by Stella Gooch
Photos by Stella Gooch
Spy mask
Three mornings of planned children’s fun and games, capably led by Brian Griffin and Steve Lofts, kept 40 local youngsters busy and laughing at Dersingham’s St Nicholas Church Hall. Monday, 1 August through to Wednesday, 3 August was filled with an active programme to keep inquisitive children occupied. The theme was based on spies and was entitled, “Mission Rescue”. The ultimate “mission” taught the children about the biblical story of Moses and Jesus over the course of the three days.
The youth workers and volunteers from Dersingham and the surrounding area – including Alan and June Crawshaw (who have each got 7 years of Holiday Clubs under their belts!) – put together an imaginitive programme to keep the children’s interest throughout the three days. Pretty much all of the children taking part were there for the full three days. Refreshments were also on offer every day.
Groups of children built a “den” out of cardboard, toilet rolls, string and other recycled items. The children enjoyed playing the ever popular parachute game and designed their own eye catching spy masks. Smaller groups were created for the children to make their own frogs from felt. This meant they were introduced to simple sewing techniques, as well as the standard gluing and craft skills. Once the frogs were done it was time to do some code cracking using a code wheel. Guided singing and dancing was also a feature with Helen from Music and Movement taking the lead and they did sound wonderful and their moves were designed to make them look like real spies too!
Agents line up
Startling news
Piecing it together
Mole is revealed
Baking cakes with secrets hidden inside was another exciting activity enjoyed by the children. I hope all the parents were on the look out for the secret sweets within! The children were assisted in making their cake mixes, hiding their “secrets” in the mix and decorating the tops. The cakes were actually baked in the oven by the adult supervisors to avoid any accidents. Fun was had by all in playing explode the bomb games using balloons but there were also quieter games such as noughts and crosses, checkers, ten pin bowling and catch the mouse. There was even time to play active games in the glorious sunshine in the grounds of the Church Hall.
Secret cakes ready to take home!
Relay racing outside Church Hall
The little ones play an active game
Relay races outside St Nicholas Church Hall
Each morning concluded with sections of a three part play/sketch called “Who is the Mole?”. The youth workers and volunteers played the roles of Agents, M, O, S, E & Z, with each of them displaying very different characters. Agent M was the lazy boss who thought he was so very clever but wasn’t; Agent O was a very strict operator who played fully by the rule book and kept things in order; Agent S was a gadget genius who designed all the technical equipment needed to complete their missions and Agent E was the not so popular clown who kept getting it wrong and was only trusted to make the tea. Finally Agent Z was a very kind and generous person who everyone loved. Unfortunately it was soon apparent that Agent Z was indeed the mole! I managed to watch the first two parts of this play and it was highly amusing indeed.
The hard work put in by all those involved was very worthwhile as the children obviously enjoyed themselves immensely and the parents had a welcome break too and all at a very low cost.
Mission rescue song and dance
Sewing the frog's body
Making the frog's body
Here is my frog
