…for not writing my weeky messages in such a long time!

We’ve been pretty busy recently working with some amazing groups!

A BIG hello to:

St John Houghton, Year 7 – Your school never fails to impress! I had so much fun with you all – well done with the boxes and all the team games!

St. George’s, Derby – A lovely day spent in my hometown Derby! You guys were wicked – the effort you put in to mass was brill! Nice work on our Creed and the Gospel for mass, J Factor! It was great to see some of you back up at The Briars for a weekend – “From our don’t know me’s to our only’s!”

CTK, Arnold – Oh my days! You guys were just amazing! Your school is so lucky to have such a genuine, fun and brave bunch of young people like you!

Our Lady’s Convent School – What a busy, busy day! Year 11 – you were SO much fun to work with during the Buzz session! Sixth Form – was really nice to meet you all. Thanks for all the laughs you guys provided during the games! Haha! Year 6 and 7 – AMAZING! You all got so stuck in with big smiles on your face, which made our afternoon so much fun together!

Our Lady & St. Edward’s, St. Ann’s - Our very first advent day and what a day it was! A BIG hello to my small group, who came up with a wonderful rendition of Black Eyed Peas ‘I Gotta Feeling’ for our sorry prayers!

St. Anne’s, Buxton – An inspiring day spent trying to change the world – you guys were just brilliant! Mass was a great way to finish off – you put so much effort in and it really paid off!

Year 10 Climate Change Day @ The Cathedral – What an AMAZING day spent waving good bye to climate change! How good were the goodie bags?!!!

St. Patrick’s, Lesicester – A lovely day spent preparing for Advent with Fr. Dave! I don’t think I’ve ever heard such beautiful singing in a primary school! The display for mass looked incredible – well done for every class for all the effort you put in to make it look so great!

St. Augustine Webster, Scunthorpe – Officially the first day of Advent and what a lovely way to spend it in such a lovely school! The Year 6 class Marsha and I worked in were lots of fun and your Advent Calendar looked simply amazing!

St. Mary’s, Hyson Green - I could tell from the very first time we met you all what a brilliant day we were going to have together and I was right! Your singing was beautiful and you all worked so well together which was just amazing to see!

St. Norbets, Crowle - I loved this day in your “OUTSTANDING” (fact.) school! You were all so lovely! Your art work for our Advent calendar was fantastic, as was the effort you put in to our mass!

Holy Cross, Whitwick – WHAT A MASSIVE TREE! It was our first time in your school and you all made us feel so welcome! The amount of energy you put in to everything was inspiring to see!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and a VERY happy New Year! BRING ON 2K10 (Just something I’m trying instead of the generic “Twenty Ten!”, except nobody seems to like it!)

Eleanor x

Oh my gosh! This was an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING week spent with St. Mary’s High School, Grimsby. I can’t even begin to explain how much fun it was. From the very first day you were all so lovely to us all and it was great to see you guys from the Chaplaincy team that came up to the Briars last year.

A big hello to all the form groups I worked with – all the trees looked wicked!

LOVED Wednesday at the auditorium! Serious kudos to the chaplaincy team for your work on the first reading, especially to those of you that stepped in last minute – it was just so funny!

Hope everything’s going well at school, I CANNOT WAIT TO COME BACK AND SEE YOU ALL AGAIN!

Eleanor, Reach 4 x

I visited two different schools this week! On Monday we visited the very lovely Ratcliffe College, which was an AMAZING (and extremely busy) day spent with the Year 7’s. It was so fun meeting you all – I was well impressed with the challenges you took on, especially in my Hoop game! The encouragement you showed eachother was great! Well done to the guys that helped out with the drama for mass with me – you rocked at imaginary Hockey!

On Thursday we had a very early start as we headed off to St. Clare’s, Coalville to train the Year 5’s and 6’s Chaplaincy team and WHAT an incredible day it was – you guys were just amazing! You could have  done my job! I had LOADS of fun playing on the field with you all at lunch time – how much energy do you all have?! Well played for those of you that worked on the prayers for the final liturgy with me – your art work was INCREDIBLE!

Eleanor, Reach4 x

On Monday, along with Father Joe, we headed off to St. Joseph’s parish in Matlock to work with the Confirmation group. You guys were such a good laugh and really welcomed us – it’s hard to believe we were only there for a hour and a half ! The stuff we prepared for mass was amazing – I hope it goes well!

A big hello to my group – you guys were HILARIOUS during King of The Jungle! (Scariest cow i’ve ever seen!)

Keep in touch!

Eleanor, Reach 4 x

Our first week as the new Reach 4 team and what a week it has been!

On Monday we spent the day working with the Year 6’s at St. Mary’s school in Grantham. You guys made us all feel so welcome – it was lovely to see so many smiling faces around your school and to hear the beautiful sound of The Community Song all the way down the corridor! The Jenga session was lots of fun and helped us all learn about the importance of community and how God will always be there to support us! The team games we played afterwards proved to us all how well you guys listened – you were simply amazing! A VERY special mention to my group who made THIRTY chatterboxes in twenty minutes for our final liturgy!

On Thursday we were at English Martyrs, Leicester working with the Year 12’s! It was a really cool day, kicking off with the Buzz gameshow, which was so funny! A few highlights were the team who decided to sellotape somebodys face up with newspaper in the tower build and the Changing Rooms round – that remote control and bath set up blew me away! The buffet at lunch was wicked and it set you up well for the amazing mass at the end of the day! Nice work!

Eleanor, Reach 4 x

Helloooo everyone! It’s good to be back! Team training has been so much fun – it’s been jam packed full of stuff! We’ve been too Bamford for a couple of nights, bowling, laughing, getting to know eachother, eating (Oh my gosh! I’ve missed our kitchen ladies over the summer!) moving in to our new rooms… and most importantly: preparing for the year ahead! I’m really looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and meeting loads of new people – it’s going to be wicked!

Off to get ready for the trainee Eucharistic Ministers who are visiting this weekend…

Until next time!

Eleanor x