On the 21st of March 22 young Quakers and 8 Quaker adults met up in a youth hostel in Littlehampton for a weekend of fun and games. After dinner we introduced eachother and established the boundaries so that everyone could have a fun safe weekend. After a freezing cold visit to the beach in which some were foolish enough to submerge themselves in the water, we headed back to the meeting house for epilogue, cocoa and bed.
This event was also highlighted by the featuring of secret friends in which each person selected a name from a bag and be nice to the selected person with gifts and hugs, without revealing who they were.We believe this creates bonds between people who might not otherwise communicate at these kinds of events and helped some first timers feel welcome.
After breakfast on Saturday morning we were treated to an informative workshop on drones in which we learnt about the horrible drone programme that the U.S and the UK is working to cover-up and the mental health effects of drone warfare on the pilots, who at first glance seem isolated from their work, but in reality can suffer from post-traumatic stress-disorder just as easily as other combatents. The U.S drone programme is estimated to have killed nearly 3000 people since it began in 2004, with incredibly high numbers being civillian casualties.
We made and flew kites in solidarity with those around the world who campaign against these programmes, and even made onto the website “Voices for Creative Non-Violence UK”.
After free-time in the town and some games back at the hostel, dinner was served before the evening game of “Empire” a memory based skill game which requires patience, skill and memory. Keith then treated us to a very relaxing epilogue before we settled down for bed.
On Sunday Morning we vacated the youth-hostel and joined the members of Littlehampton meeting house in morning worship. After lunch we had more free-time in the town of littlehampton, which was cut short by a hail-storm, we had time before a few more games before we headed home on the train.
I’d like to thank all the Young People who came and all the volunteers who worked really hard to make this an excellent Quaker event.
Theo
