The children from 'Jubilate' join in lots of activities at the church. Below are some of the activities they have been involved in.

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 story 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.

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 Father 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.

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.

Date last edited 10/06/2010