As in 2006 a Grant of £300 has been given to assist in providing places at the Summer Camp organised by Prior's Park Chapel.
There are two Christian Unions at the school, one for school years 7-9 and one years 10-13. The Unions are run ecumenically, with Rachel Westlake of the Baptist Church and Chris Fox from Holy Trinity leading. This year Rachel writes that about 70 year 7 pupils had signed up! The two groups cost about £5 per week to run.
"HOPE 08 is a nationwide initiative involving churches of every denomination in Great Britain and Ireland working together to show the Christian faith in action and to explain the meaning of that faith across the country in a wide variety of ways.
HOPE 08 in Tewkesbury will involve local churches working together to demonstrate the Christian faith through various events and practical action projects."
You can read more about it at www.www.tewkesbury08.co.uk. Remembering the Riverside Christian Trusts commitment to young people, the grant was made specifically for that part of HOPE08.
This donation helped the Tewkesbury Methodist church in its plans to start an after-school homework club for the children attending Chance Street. A settled number of about 20 children have used the club. Each Monday the children are "walking bussed" to the Methodist Church, from where the parents collect them. After a short devotional time, the children spend some time doing their homework and other topics led by the helpers, such as simple cooking.
This donation was made to a youth group at the Tewkesbury Baptist Church, led by one of the members, for the purchase of study bibles.
As mentioned below, Prior's Park is housing estate with a high deprivation factor. The donation was given in June to subsidise the cost for children attending their summer camp.
This donation helped fund "The Lighthouse Club", which was run at the end of August over three days (Aug 22-24) with a mix of crafts, activities and Christian teaching and was for younger children. It was led by Paul Willmott.
This donation was for a similar a summer club for the Northway children to be run in the August holiday, also by Paul Willmott.
Prior's Park is housing estate with a high deprivation factor. The active youth group needed money for equipment that would appeal to the youngsters in this area. The Riverside Trust was able to give a grant of £1000 towards this work.
The photograph was taken by the local paper, and shows Peter Dickinson (on the extreme left) with the leaders and some of the members of the Youth group.
Chris is very active among the Anglican churches in Tewkesbury, and also in the schools serving the town. He runs "Xcite", providing worship for young people.
Chris requested funds to allow him to offer subsidised places at Youth Camps, that proved to be very successful. Extracts of several letters are included here....
