Barnstorming party at the Youth Club

By way of a preamble to this report, AudlemOnline received a lovely e-mail from Mark And Sarah Ayers on Wednesday evening – "Want to say a massive thanks to all the volunteers at Audlem youth club, our son Elliot really enjoys going every Wednesday night and was very touched by the Christmas party and presents that were given out, it was a really nice touch and makes us realise what a great community we live in."

Now read on......

Wednesday night at the Baptist Chapel was the barnstorming finale to a fantastic first 6 months of the new Audlem Youth Club. We thought we'd crank it up a bit because it's just never quite frenzied enough for our liking, so we laid on a veritable feast of carbs, fat and sugar (there was a bowl of cherry tomatoes in there somewhere because we have a volunteer whose day job is health promotion) washed down with sugar.

All musical stuff

We managed an early, pre-food, round of musical chairs which was really good and only a teensy bit violent just towards the end, but you have to expect that don't you. We talked her round and she handed over the lump hammer quite graciously as it happens.

Well, after that it was all 'Musical this' and 'Musical that', a non-stop clamour for all things that required the stopping of music at random intervals. Monique invented the longest Pass the Parcel in the history of parcel passing. Indeed, the expertly cling filmed, gift-bulging monster of a package was still boulder sized after three days of hard passing, prompting the enterprising Lily to speculate cash for the remaining contents of the parcel and terminate the game. A tenner didn't seem unreasonable under the circumstances but we decided to speed it up and remove a layer at every pass until Hari, triumphant, reached the heart of the beast and a DC Comics Mug. Do picture, if you will, the scene, as a roomful of under 13s scratched in vain at 850 layers of cling film, by fairy light- not a peelable surface in sight. Actually, we now claim it as a patented 'Youth' game with a social conscience.

It was all just one giant metaphor for consumerism thwarted.

As we approached the end of a break neck two hours we rewarded our most loyal regulars with a small gift of a christmas jumper tree decoration with a £5 amazon voucher stuffed inside. Everyone was issued with a loyalty card at our launch in July and promised a 'treat' if they managed 12 weeks of attendance before Christmas. This was a one-off and we were really chuffed to be able to hand out 9 little packages. No one went home empty handed though thanks to the gargantuan cling film parcel and a supply of glow sticks- we think all our members are deserving and completely brilliant young people.

Thanks to Alan and Judi

The final words of this report are reserved for the marvellous folks at the Baptist Chapel, particularly Alan and Judi Patterson, who stepped up when Youth Club needed a place to call home. They have supported us both with their kind and unstinting words of encouragement and their laid back welcome, which has not wavered, despite all manner of madcap activities taking place under their nose! Above all, their generosity in allowing Youth Club to operate free from rent has meant that we could keep subs at a low and accessible level of £1 per session and reinvest all of the proceeds to fund a huge range of activities (and tuck!) over the course of the past 24 weeks. They have made it possible for Audlem to once again have a burgeoning Youth Club to serve the many young people in our community. In modest recognition for all that they have done for us, Elliot Ayers and Ollie Lowe, on behalf of Youth Club, presented Alan with a bouquet of flowers and a large tub of Celebrations to share with the congregation at the chapel this Sunday!

Then it was just a brief 12 hour clean up, with a party of 48 volunteers hand picking silver stars off the carpet tiles.

Start again in January

As if all this wasn't enough, we're back on Friday January 8th with a session that's all about putting on as many clothes as you can get on and having a photo booth session. Lots of silly stuff to kick off the New Year.

Happy Christmas Everyone!

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