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The children from 'Jubilate' join in lots of activities at the church. Below
are some of the activities they have been involved in.
15th
December 2010 - Nine Lessons and Carol Service
Nine children from Jubilate joined the East Wickham singers for their annual
service of Nine Lessons and Carols. The
children started by singing some for their favourite songs before the service. The service started with the children singing
the first verse of Once in Royal. In
between the nine reading and Carols sung by the
congregation the East Wickham singers sang several Carols written by Richard
Southgate, the hand bells played some Carols and the children sang The Drummer
Boy, Little Donkey, and a Gallery Carol written by Richard. They also sang the
first two verses of Away in a Manger. One
of the children also read one of the readings. After the service the children
were able to meet the Mayor of Bexley, Cllr Val Clark, and the Bishop of
Woolwich, Rt Rev. Christopher Chessun,
soon to be Bishop of Southwark.
8th June 2010 - Trip to Abbey Ruins
On Wednesday 8th June
16 children plus adults from Jubilate went up to the Abbey
Ruins to find out how the Monks used to live there. This included a story in the warming room,
doing a word search in the undercroft, followed by a
bible story in the cloisters. The children then did their exercise by racing
to the kitchen, here they were served cheese and biscuits and water which they
ate in the refectory in silence while Fr Derek read them the rule of St
Augustine. Then it was time for the children to assemble for a procession around the Nave of the Abbey. This was
lead by Paul as Thurifer,
2 children carrying candles, another carrying the cross and several children
carrying banners. As they processed they
sang 'The Spirit lives'. Paul then lead them into the Lady Chapel where Fr David said a prayer,
then to the high altar where he gave them a blessing.
17th February
2010 -
Ash Wednesday
Our Jubilate meeting on Ash Wednesday included a short Liturgy
of Ashing. Fr David gave the children a sheet with
the Lord's Prayer broken down into short sentences, after each piece there were
several questions e.g. Do I say my
prayers? Do I pay attention and take part in Mass? they
were then asked to write their sins on a piece of paper. When they had all finished writing, Fr David
collected up their sins and we all went outside where he burnt them.
We then gathered at
the back of the church and processed in singing 'O Lord, all the World'. After a bible reading and Fr David gave a
short talk in which he tied one of the boys legs together to show how when we
are bound up with sin we can't go anywhere but when we confess our sins God cuts the ties and we are free. After singing 'God forgave my sins', Fr David
blessed the Ashes and everyone went forward to have ash put on their forehead
in the shape of a cross. He then lead us in some prayers of repentance and the Lords Prayer and we finished off by singing ' You shall go
out with joy'.
3rd February 2010 - Candlemas
On 3d Feb we finished
our Jubilate meeting with a short celebration of
Candlemas. The children gathered in St.
Michael's chapel along with some of their parents, where everyone
was given a lit candle. Fr Derek
started off by blessing the candles, then 3 children
read the st
ory of the Presentation of
Christ in the temple. Another child then
read a pray, after which we processed to the lady chapel
singing ' The spirit lives'. Once in the lady chapel
we sang 'The light of Christ', then finished off with Fr Derek saying a
prayer.
16th December
2009 - Nine Lessons and Carols
Jubilate joined the East Wickham
singers for their annual Nine Lessons and Carol. Two of the children sang the first verse of
Once in Royal beautifully as a duet. The rest sang The Little Drummer Boy, Little
Donkey, Away in a Manger and How far is it to Bethlehem set to music written by
Richard Southgate.
22nd July 2009 - The
Jubilate Summer Bar-b-cue
It was a warm, pleasant summer evening at the end of July, the children of
the Jubilate Choir gathered as usual in the choir room of St. Michael’s Church,
they were also joined by some other children from the church. As they waited for everyone to arrive they
sang gathering songs, there was some enthusiastic and boisterous singing. Tonight was not an ordinary gathering of the
Jubilate Choir. This evening was to be
the end of year bar-b-cue.
The children were excited, most of the schools they attended had now broken
up for the summer holidays and the children were looking forward to the long
summer holiday that lay ahead of them. After the gathering songs had been sung
everyone headed out to the Church garden, where Father Derek and his helpers
were already busy with the bar-b-cue. The
children were divided into two groups and went off to opposite ends of the
garden with Leaders to play garden games , one group
played hoopla and the other skittles. A
strong breeze made it difficult to keep the skittles standing upright. The children adapted the rules of skittles to
a game of their own design and I have no idea who won! It didn’t matter everyone got points and
everyone had fun! After a while the two
groups swapped over so everyone had a turn at everything.
After the garden games were completed the children were called back inside
the Church for a treasure hunt, the children in small groups were set of photos
and asked to find a piece of a puzzle from each of the locations shown in the
photo. There was a puzzle piece at each
location for each group. After all the
pieces had been collected the children had to solve a riddle with them and when
they did they won a small prize. Some
children found this easier than others, but help was available from the leaders
to read the more difficult words and point them in the right direction and by
the end of the game all the children were laughing and had won their prize.
By now there was an inviting smell of bar-b-cuing coming from the garden
and everyone headed outside again where Fr Derek was working hard with
piles of beef burgers and sausages. His
two helpers were busy sampling the food he had already cooked! The children (and leaders) each had a burger
and hotdog and a cold drink, the noise subsided as they munched their way
through the food. After this there was a
selection of biscuits and cakes for the children to enjoy. By the time the food was finished the evening
was drawing to a close and parents and carers were
arriving to collect the children. The
evening ended with a short prayer , lots of good
wishes for a very happy summer, and reminders that Jubilate will be open again
in the autumn.
17th December 2008 During
the third week of Advent St Michael’s Choir and some members of the Jubilate
Choir joined the East Wickham Singers and St. Michael’s School Choirs at
St. Michael’s Community Centre, East Wickham for a service of Nine
Lessons and Carols. The singing was
lovely. There was also a group who
played several well known carols with hand bells. It was a joy to hear the familiar story of
Christmas and sing Carols that echo down the years. As well as listen to the wonderful singing by
the Choir.
1st March 2008 Some of the children from 'Jubilate' joined the East Wickham
singers singing Even song on Southwark cathedral
(full report Southwark)
23rd February 2008 Some children from 'Jubilate' joined the East Wickham
singers singing Even Song at Norwich cathedral (full report Norwich)
4th February
2007
Hannah became the first of the Jubilate choir to gain
her light blue voice for life medal and was
presented with it during the morning Mass.