From 9th-11th April nearly 30 young people from our Diocese travelled to Cardiff for two nights for a residential exploring the story of Holy Week. A huge thank you to Revd Victoria Jones, Michelle Lloyd, Dan Priddy, Nan Dowell and Sophie Whitmarsh who led the trip.
Alexander Luke (aged 15) reports on the time together.
“Sunday
We met the rest of the group at 3.30 in Carmarthen to travel together to Cardiff to stay at the Urdd centre. Everyone was excited and looking forward to the next few days – meeting new people, strengthening our faith and having fun. We were allocated our rooms and unpacked, settled in and completed packs we were given to fill in. We then had dinner which was very tasty chicken, potatoes and vegetables. Dinner was followed by a little free time which we could spend in the lounge where there was a pool table, television and vending machines. We all gathered in the hall and we were put into groups and then introduced ourselves and played some games followed by worship where we thought about the story of Palm Sunday. We all enjoyed a hot chocolate, played a few games and we were then ready for bed – although some of us did not sleep too well the first night!
Monday
Breakfast was at 8.00 am and then we had morning worship in the hall, Revd Victoria led us in thinking about Maundy Thursday. After worship we went into Cardiff City Centre and carried out the camera challenge in our groups. We had a list of photos and we had to take; for example, our group doing the YMCA dance and acting out a passage from the bible. One of photos we had to take was our team with a Krispy Kreme doughnut– but we could not find them so we did not win the task. This was followed by a lovely lunch in the church hall and worship at St Marys Church with the Bishop Joanna and Father Paul. In the church there were a lot of crosses on the floor, we went round in groups and thought about Jesus’ journey to the cross. When we left the church we were given a wooden cross each to take with us on our walk back. After this we had an exciting boat trip in Cardiff Bay which was great fun. Some were a little apprehensive about the boat but it was great. We had a little free time in the bay – some people had an ice cream and others went on the carousel. Back to the centre for some free time and preparation for the final worship on the Tuesday. Dinner was followed by bowling which was great fun. I scored a few strikes but did not win overall. We also had a little time in the arcade. We returned back to the centre for evening worship, focusing on Good Friday, hot chocolate and bed after a fun, busy day.
Tuesday
We had breakfast and made sure everything was packed for our departure. We had a closing worship looking forward to the Good News of Easter where my group were performing a drama. Other groups led the readings, prayers and singing. We also had an awards ceremony and Josh and I won the ‘sense of humour’ award. The bus departed at 12.30 pm and arrived back at about 2.00 in Carmarthen.
It was a fun, enjoyable trip. Everybody was very friendly and we also made some new friends who we have met up with since in Carmarthen. We were able to make new friends and strengthen our faith whilst having some fun at the same time. We hope to have the opportunity to return again next year. Thanks to Clare Williams for organising such an enjoyable, memorable trip.”
St Davids Youth and Children 