A big shout out to my group, the ‘Matt’s Minions’ because you were amazing, especially for working hard and putting so much effort into everything we did.  I wish you all the best for the Year7 and what ever you do in the future, you deserve the best.

Good luck and God bless. Matt

You were definitely a group that was always cheerful, forever laughing and smiling, especially in my small group! You got on with everything so well, trying your best and just having fun – I really enjoyed our circus game evening on the first night, though your jokes were rather lacking! I hope you all enjoyed your week at the Briars because it was a pleasure having you on retreat. I wish you the best of luck with year 7, and I have no doubt you’ll be fine, just remember to look up .

Don

Hey guys! how quickly did our week go today? It was awesome and a lot of fun. From the first game of rounders on the field to waving you off I loved it. My only disappointment was that I couldn’t come on more trips with you all because you were both schools so lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed our circus night on Monday night and all the activities. Tuesday at the heights of Abraham was a lot of fun and laughs and I think I went pretty fast on the slide so I was well impressed. Your tress on Tuesday night looked lovely and you all spoke lots in group making new friends too. Mass was well good on Thursday and you were all willing to take part and get stuck in. Im glad you all had a fun week and made friends because you were all amazing! thank you for a lovely week. Take care Sinoia

Thank you for an amazing week! It really was a lot of fun and i especially enjoyed going to the cinema and bowling on Thursday! Shrek 4 is a film that you definetly have to see! The day was filled with a lot of laughs and i laughed till i cried at one point!

A big shout out to my small group, The bee team! You were such good fun to be around and got involved with everything so thank you!

Another highlight of the week for me was the disco, it was one of the best discos we’ve had in a long time, you were well up for dancing and your singing to don’t stop believing waS just INCREDIBLE!

Mass too was a great celebration and i thought all the dramas and prayers were incredible! So thank you for a great week and good luck with secondary school!

Take care

Steph

This week has been really cool in terms of everything that we’ve got up to.
Even from the first night going around the ‘circus’ I was loving the fun attitude that you guys brought to the place and this only continued throughout the week.
Big shout out to my small group, you dudes were awesome, got on really well with each other and jumped upon every challenge given to you, you guys rocked!!
Hope to see you all up here again soon

Conor
What can I possibly say?! It has been an incredible week having all o0f you up this week, you were aqll amazing!
I have to say that I’ve especially loved my small group this week, you guys were baaare jokes, it was amazing just doing night prayers with you guys, you were all soooo chilled out. I loved it!
I hope you all were able to make great friends with the other school and that you all keep in contact.
Peace

What a great weekend! You guys were alot, alot of fun, I really enjoyed your sense of enthuiasm and fun, especially in our round robin session on Saturday morning, my small group, big up to you lot, you were so funny and had a great sense of enthuiasm for everything we did. Friday night was really cool, building the story for night prayer, especially with some of the group’s creations, impressive to say the least!

Dave x

Don

I was so excited to be having my old school up and you didn’t disappoint! Right from the word go you were well up for everything and just got stuck in! A special hello to my small group, something to do with ‘Bananas in pyjamas….’ longest name ever! Thank you for making it such a special week and you are certainly one of the giggliest and random groups that I’ve ever had, so thank you for all the laughs and all the amazing memories you’ve left me with. You were our last full week senior group and really were the best that we could have asked for.

One of the highlights of the week for me was writing the affirmations on Friday morning. You all wrote such individual things and really thought about each person, so thanks for making this so easy. It really paid off because it made for a really special atmosphere when we read them out later.

Mass also was fantastic, and the roleplays were awesome. Well done to my small group for just getting stuck in with it and doing it all yourself without me even needing to say anything at all!

So good luck with the rest of  Becket and thank you for making it so special.

Hopefully see some of you up for mass sometime.

Take care

Steph

Hey guys! what a week ey? I had a really great time we had lots to do and as our last full week year 9s you did not disappoint. From the first activity with the team challenges I had lots of fun! You all took them in your stride and then we finished with a lovely night prayer. Tuesday we made our awesome masks which looked amazing so well done there. Then we had a lovely walk and I retold a beautiful story in the clearing for a few of you hehe! Tuesday night was lovely and you all kept a beautiful atmosphere too. Wednesday was team building day and I really enjoyed myself and thought you took a lot from it so a big well done. Thursdays bee session was fun as was the talent show which was amazing so well done! Thanks for lots of laughs and memories! Take Care and God bless Sinoia

Hello everybody! Sorry this one is a bit late, but what an absoultely amazing week we have had together, I loved every single minute of it, from the moment you guys got here I knew it would be a special week! Even though I was asked if my placement at the Briars was court ordered…good fun!

But seriously, being our last senior gorup week long programme, you really made it special for the team and I, with your enthiusiasm, sense of fun and your amazing senses of humour and personalities. You are a fanastatic year group, and a great example to set for younger years!

We got up to alot of sick activites, alot of which was in our small groups, big shout out to my small group; GRASS! You guys were amazing, from the moment we first met we all got on so well, we pure chilled alot of the time chatting away and listening to some ‘banging tunes!’ But also got involved with things like our drama for Morning Prayer and mass, both of which were sicccck! And also rebuilding our amazingly attractive plant pot, which was maybe unfixable! You were really comfortable with each other especially in our sharing sheet which made me feel really welcome and involved.

Our celebration of Mass on Thursday was awesome! All the groups did amazingly well to prepare our mass, and also the nights celebrations that continued were great fun. Affirmations on Sunday were amazing, as you guys really got into it and that was so good to see!

Overall, an absoutely quality week, so keep smiling and doing what you do!

God Bless,

Dave x

Held each year in support of the Briars Catholic Youth Retreat Centre, this hugely popular tournament continues to be a hard fought contest and an enjoyable day out for the participants.

Begun by Father Michael O’Donoghue in his time as Director of the Briars, teams from all around the East Midlands and beyond come to tackle a beautiful but demanding course, renew acquaintances and support the work of the Briars.

Over 5000 young people stay at the Briars on retreat each year, coming as a school, parish or youth group for a mix of prayer, reflection, fun and friendship. As a charity, the Briars depends on the support of events such as the Chevin tournament and it raises several thousand pounds each year for the centre.

This year, the tournament organising team of Fr Michael, Pat, Leo, Rosemary the secretary and staff at Chevin and the staff at the Briars joined together to provide a superb day of golf. The weather kept fine, the course was in excellent condition, the welcome from Mike Reilly and his staff was as warm as ever and winners and runner-up alike went home happy.

The overall prize was won this year by a team from Lincoln College, 2- 5th places were shared between teams on the same score and the Mike Nolan schools trophy was won by St Bede’s School Scunthorpe.

Father Joe Wheat, the present Director of the Briars, was present throughout the day and awarded the prizes. He described the day as ‘an essential event in the life of the Briars and a testament to the dedication of our supporters and friends. All the staff, volunteers and young people who call the Briars ‘home’ truly are grateful to all the organisers and participants.’

You can download the results table here.

Dave

This was a great weekend, even thought you weren’t here for very long we somehow managed to pack so much into such a small space of time. All your energy and enthusiasm was great to see. I know I really enjoyed the weekend and I hope you did to. I hope you enjoyed the tramway museum, the sweet shop there is awesome.

Mass was excellent and a real celebration so thank you to you all for making it such a great event plus you singing was amazing, you really made your teachers very proud of you.

Good luck and God bless.

Matt

You weren’t here that long but we certainly filled it up! The sunflowers you made on Friday night were amazing, and a special well done to my small group because you worked so had on it and it really paid off!

I really enjoyed spending Saturday morning with you guys and you did some really good work!

The highlight of the weekend for me was mass, you all worked dead hard! Good luck for secondary school.

Take care Steph.

This was a lovely weekend and you guys were amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We cramed a lot in due to little time and your sunflowers were really really good!!! I thought the things we did Saturday morning were very cool and you all got into them. Mass was very good and the parishioners spoke very highly of you too. Then the evening fun and games were fun too. Thanks for a great weekend. Sinoia

Yo yo yo everybody! this weekend has been pure amazing, we literally crammed as muchas we could into this short time.

From making the sunflowers on the first night to partying it out on Saturday, you guys were brilliant.

A big shout out to my small group “The ultraviolet 9”, you lot were lovely.

Take care

Peace

This was a great weekend and I only wish I could of had a small group! I loved doing the quiz and the games with you on the saturday evening, you were all really up for it and I wish the disco could have gone for longer! Thanks for a great weekend. Good luck for year 7!
Don

Big shout out to my small group ‘The awesome Multi Coloured Dots’, you dudes were on it like a car bonnet in challenges, and our intro to mass was siiiiick!

Unfortunately we didn’t get much team time this weekend due to watching the disappointing England performance on Friday, but aww well, we had a good time the rest of the weekend.

Hope to see all you guys in the future.

CoNoR.

This weekend we’ve not stopped, it’s been go go go!!! It’s been great to see how you all just got on with everything, and how both schools got on so well! The football on the first evening was disappointing, but the rest of the weekend certainly wasn’t! It was so much fun and so easy for the Team, and I only wish I could have been there for all of it!! I hope you all enjoyed the weekend too, and I wish you the best of luck in the future!

Don

Hey guys this weekend was very busy from the moment you arrived to the moment you left. I thought watching the football and Up was very cool and you were very lucky lol. I really enjoyed Saturday too with you guys when we made our trees they all looked really cool and it was nice chatting about our favourite memories and laughing and just generally having fun. The walk after was great fun too and I really enjoyed rapping nursery rhymes to you guys I think I found a talent there hehe. Mass was really good you all worked hard and well and it was amazing followed by a very groovy D.I.S.C.O!! Saturdays games and challenges were fun and you all worked well. It was a great weekend so thank you! Take Care Sinoia

Hellooooooo guys, it has been an absolute pleasure having you up this week, you guys were simply amazing! We did so much I can’t remember all of the week! It was just that fun!

A big hello to my small group, I loved having you all, you were so enthusiastic…and loud. Our morning prayer was just awe inspiring.

I hope you all get the chance to come up again and visit. And good luck with secondary school.

Peace

Hey guys what a lovely week  it was. We had the nicest summer weather so I loved the sun and heat! I really enjoyed the team building activities on Tuesday and the climbing wall you were really brave. I thought that the activites in small groups was a lot of fun and your trees looked awesome. I really liked the tramway trip and all the beautiful sweets. The rounders, the football, the disco and mass was awesome. I hope you enjoyed the week too! Enjoy the rest of year 6! Sinoia

This week was awesome, I really enjoyed getting to know all of you. You were great and so much fun to be around. I really enjoyed all the games of rounders in the field, and games of football. I really enjoyed the walk on Tuesday because I really got to know a lot of you and the parachute games were a lot of fun.

I also really enjoyed the bedtimes stories we heard, they are so funny. I also really loved the fact that you all got stuck into the week and seemed to get the most out of the experience.

Good luck and God bless, Matt

This has been a great week! Non stop the whole time!! Focus was great fun, and I especially loved the in day with our water themed games! You were all though much fun and a great laugh. I loved the games of football and rounders, and I hope I taught you all a good lesson! I really hope you all enjoyed the week as much as I did and I wish you the best of luck for year 7!
Don

Big shout out to my small group ‘The awesome Multi Coloured Dots’, you dudes were on it like a car bonnet in challenges, and our intro to mass was siiiiick!

Unfortunately we didn’t get much team time this weekend due to watching the disappointing England performance on Friday, but aww well, we had a good time the rest of the weekend.

Hope to see all you guys in the future.

CoNoR.

This weekend we’ve not stopped, it’s been go go go!!! It’s been great to see how you all just got on with everything, and how both schools got on so well! The football on the first evening was disappointing, but the rest of the weekend certainly wasn’t! It was so much fun and so easy for the Team, and I only wish I could have been there for all of it!! I hope you all enjoyed the weekend too, and I wish you the best of luck in the future!

Don

Hey guys this weekend was very busy from the moment you arrived to the moment you left. I thought watching the football and Up was very cool and you were very lucky lol. I really enjoyed Saturday too with you guys when we made our trees they all looked really cool and it was nice chatting about our favourite memories and laughing and just generally having fun. The walk after was great fun too and I really enjoyed rapping nursery rhymes to you guys I think I found a talent there hehe. Mass was really good you all worked hard and well and it was amazing followed by a very groovy D.I.S.C.O!! Saturdays games and challenges were fun and you all worked well. It was a great weekend so thank you! Take Care Sinoia

Hello everybody! Thank you for an amazing weeked first of all, i really enjoyed it! You were all so full of energy which was great to see!
I’d like to say a special hello to my small group. I adored workking with you guys because you made such a big effort in getting to know everybody in the group and worked so well in the team in such a short space of time, so well done! I especially enjoyed doing the roleplay for mass with you all because you had so many good ideas and it was very easy to work with you on it! I also have to say how impressive all your trees looked, they were simply beautiful!
A highlight of the weekend for me was the walk on Saturday. I was so pleased to see that you all seemed to enjoy as much as i did too!
So good luck for secondary school, i’m sure you will all do just great!
Take care,
Steph

This was an absolutely amazing week, I really enjoyed myself. A big shout out to my group, the ‘2012 waffle eating champions dipped in maple flavoured custard’ you were amazing, and I loved the energy and enthusiasm you brought. My highlight of the week had to be the butterfly farm, it was awesome and I learnt so much. I enjoyed all the trips, you guys were awesome on them. All the quizzes and challenges we faced in our groups were a lot of fun and well done to you all for just getting involved and making the most of the experience.

God bless, Matt

Hello manzzz!

How are you all? It’s been yet another great week at the Briars with so many things going on.

The weather has been bright and sunny this week and so has life at the centre, both schools have came up with positive attitudes and got stuck in with everything that’s been going on, which has been great to see.

‘Good Looking Peeps’ was the name of my small group this week and these guys were awesome, always funny and always friendly, it was a pleasure working with!

Got to go away to the Heights of Abraham for the first time ever this week and I’m not gonna lie, I was terrified of those heights! but still a great day anyway, mainly helped by the weather J

anyways I wish everyone Good Luck in the future and hope to see you all up here again soon.

Conor

This has been a great week. Filled with fun and some great memories! I’ve loved every minute of it. From Focus in the field and on the climbing wall, to the Heights of Abraham, it’s all been so enjoyable!! Everything we’ve done, you made so great by just getting stuck in and involved. You tried you best in everything, and I really loved the energy and enthusiasm, yes and the volume of my small group. I hope you all loved the Quiz night as much as I did! I especially loved the penalty shoot out!! I’d like to thank you all for a fantastic week and wish you the best of luck with year 7 next year.

Don

helloooooo everyone!
I really hope you had a great time up here, from all the trips you guys have been having i guess you have! It has been a sick week!
Than-you especially to my small group the “chocoholic thundergods”, you guys were simply the best! I absolutely loved doing our morning prayer on the Friday, it was baaaare jokes!
Thank-you al for an incredible week!
Peace!
x

This is a part time position; 9 – 5 Tuesday and Friday, 1/2 day Wednesday. (18.75 hrs)

The successful candidate will

• have proven skills and experience in finance, administration and clerical work

• have experience of bookkeeping, accounts preparation, payroll, budgeting and financial analysis

• have excellent people and communication skills, be able to work as part of a team and in accordance to the ethos of the centre.

• and ideally have experience of either staff/volunteer management and/or facilities management

Starting Salary range: NJC pay scale SCP 18 – 22 £17161 – £19621 pro rata dependant on qualifications and experience.

The post is subject to a clear CRB/ISA check, enhanced level. The NDCYS is committed to safe recruitment practices.

For an application pack or to arrange a visit, contact

Helen Aldridge
The Briars Catholic Youth Retreat Centre
Crich Common, Matlock. Derbyshire. DE4 5BW
01773 852044
c.manager@ndcys.com

Closing date for applications; Saturday 17th July.

Interviews; Thursday 29th July. Employment to commence September 2010.

Work based at The Briars, Crich Common. DE4 5BW.

Download the advert here

Conor

I have absolutely loved having all of you around, and its been so great having you around because you were so easy to talk to, and I felt so comfortable around you! A big hello to Conor and my small group ‘ The give me cake squad’ You were up for everything and anything and it was chilling out with you in Nigel. I especially enjoyed doing the mass roleplay with you because you were sooo up for it! The affirmations you did were fantastic because you really put thought into them, so thank you for making it so easy!

Good luck with the rest of secondary school, hope exams all go ok for you all!

Take care,

Steph

Helllllo everyone!
I absolutely loved this weekend! It was so much fun, especially with our football theme, but lets not mention the England game! I’m not going to lie, it was quite scary knowing I would have a group of all girls, but a massive shout out to mine & Sinoia’s group, you lot were so much fun and a great laugh! I especially loved the affirmations we did, and our morning prayer which were both amazing so well done! We ceratinly broke the mould, with our dragons and us lot appearing outside, it was awesome!
Big shout out to Beno’s as well, as always your mob were so much fun! I really enjoyed getting to know you all, and you certainly did Beno’s proud!
Anyway, good luck with everything and thanks for a top weekend!

God Bless

This has been a nice relaxed and chilled out, and I really loved having the chance to catch some football!! I loved all the games and challenges on the first evening, you were all so enthusiastic and gave everything your best shot, even if some of the games seemed impossible!! On Saturday I really enjoyed the chance to get to know my group better with our sharing sheet, and the day just got better as the walk was lovely and the weather great and the only thing that let us down was the football. The disco was great, you made it amazing! It was lovely on Sunday to see you all so happy with your affirmations and you should all be really proud of writing them for each other! Thanks for a great week end and good luck to all of you in the future!

Don

You guys were just awesome, firstly because there were so many glee fans, big respect for that. The energy and enthusiasm you all bought was amazing especially as there wasn’t that many of you. You truly did just get involved with everything and your singing was amazing.

I’m gutted I couldn’t be there for the whole retreat because all of you were awesome and I loved getting to know all of you. A big shout out to mine and Don’s small group because you were amazing and hopefully you got a lot out of the weekend.

Good luck and God bless for all you do in the future.

Matt