From Monday 13 to Friday 17 August, ‘Showstoppers’ Holiday Club came to St Uny’s C E Primary School in Carbis Bay, writes team facilitator, Alan Mackie.

A team of 24 young people and adults from the parish church of St Philip & St James in Holywood, County Down in Northern Ireland, ran a very successful Christian holiday club for the pupils of St Uny’s School. During the course of the week the club had an average attendance of 30 – peaking at 40 on one of the days.

The club was the brain child of a former vicar of Carbis Bay and Lelant, Revd Roger Elks, who moved from here to be the incumbent in Holywood in 2001. As part of a mission outreach programme, the young people from Northern Ireland tried to help the even younger children from St Uny’s School to understand the Christian story – from creation to new life in Christ.

Although the hope was for the Cornish sun to shine lustily throughout the week, the team was, in fact, confronted by probably the worst week of weather in the whole of this pretty poor summer! Nevertheless the club thrived.

The activities included craft, story time, drama, song and games. Through these activities the stories of the Creation, David and Daniel were told, and the children also learned more of the traditional church stories of Christmas and Easter. The climax of the club programme was a barbeque and talent show on the Friday evening, at which the children and young people entertained their parents and parishioners.

During the week, the ‘Showstoppers’ team also performed a concert in St Uny parish church and led worship at St Anta’s on the final Sunday. And, despite the weather, the team from Holywood returned home excited and uplifted by their visit to Carbis Bay.