Faith, fun and friendship at Lasallian Camp
Over 110 young people from six different DLS Schools descended with their sleeping bags and tents to St. Cassian’s Retreat Centre in Kintbury from July 4th to 6th.
Some young people had not had the pleasure of visiting the centre prior to this weekend, making the weekend of Faith, Fun and Friendship especially ground-breaking for them.
The team was happy to welcome back 20+ past team members to help aid the weekend, meaning that over the weekend we fed over 160 people!
The weekend started on Friday, setting out the tents and getting ready for the weekend. Welcoming everyone to our community included playing games (icebreakers with 110 young people!), the classic Kintbury opening night meal and wrapping our day up with prayer led by St. Cassian’s volunteers Brandon and Olivya around the campfire.
Starting on Saturday morning meant an earlier wake up call for most, as the sun started rising at 5am! That didn’t stop excitement for the day from bubbling throughout the campsite and dining halls over breakfast. Our day’s activities were kicked off with morning prayer delivered by Vale and Marti.
After morning prayer we were able to field over 10 different activities for the young people, all happening at the same time throughout the day! Young people were put into small groups to experience the best bits of The Kintbury Experience, ranging from archery to low ropes, the Emmaus Walk to art workshops, Inflatable Human Foosball to our usual Round Robin. There was truly something for everyone. Picnic style food was on offer to break up the day as a lunch before we were truly spoiled by many a plate filling options that evening.
Our local parish priest, Fr. Zbigniev came to celebrate mass and told us of the importance of peace and how we can bring peace and hope to each other through our actions, the same actions that the young people had all day to display through the activities we shared together.
The day was ended with a very prayerful meditation led by Cami and Olivya about concentrating on where we can see the presence of God in our lives, but of course after catching the end of the England Women’s Euro match that evening.
Sunday morning saw us prepare for our final liturgy together, allowing every school gather back together to prepare their ‘Good News’. All schools brought a stellar display about their weekend, ranging from re-enactments, all the way to rewritten songs, and everything in between.
Waving everyone off was, as always, an emotional affair, but we were delighted to have a larger than usual team stood on the wall at the end of the retreat.
We missed out on the presence of our friends from Malta and Ireland, but were still delighted to have welcomed Cardinal Langley, DLS St. Helens, DLS Basildon, St. Gregory’s, St. Peter's Bournemouth, and DLS Jersey. Can’t wait for next year’s camp!
