Junior CE Leader

Hi, my name is Anne Keys and I am a Junior CE leader in Colaghty (Lack) Parish Church Co Fermanagh.

I was approached by the Committee arranging the Convention to lead praise at the ‘Junior’ event and had the opportunity of attending a few meetings with the wonderfully enthusiastic bunch of young committee members from the Enniskillen District. Songs were sourced and on the day of the ‘Junior’ event I headed off with the song words on my memory stick, guitar in hand and packed the car (Legally) with Junior members.

I was impressed from the outset with the warm and welcoming atmosphere in the hall at Fivemiletown Methodist and the local Parish drama group who were providing the afternoon programme were helpful in setting up the laptop, and sound system.

There was a lovely atmosphere of anticipation sand fun even as Juniors and their leaders gathered in. Local CE’s were well represented including my own and those brave enough to travel down past the Ballygawley roundabout were welcomed at the beginning of the proceedings. We sang our theme song ‘Father God I wonder’ and other praise songs; all sang with gusto and, as they were sitting informally on the floor, stood up and did the obligatory actions.

Once the worship time was over I could relax. The subsequent programme was a real treat Mamie Alexander and the Fivemiletown Parish team presented a multimedia feast of songs, puppets, drama, action songs, dialogue, video clips, and a thought based on a red balloon, all led by a colourful clown character who held the children’s’ attention throughout. The sound yet simple truths of God’s love for us despite our failings and weaknesses and that Jesus gave his life for each one of us to know that love for ourselves were delivered in a joyful and captivating manner.

The afternoon ended with prayer, juice, buns, and prizes for the creative entries for the Convention competitions. The hall was also adorned with the banners designed by local CE Societies for a competition earlier in the year and this added to the scene.

I would like to thank all who made the afternoon a success and as we said to the rest of our members when we were back in CE a week later “If you weren’t there you should have been –you missed a real treat!”

Junior CE Member

My name is Matthew Keys and I am eight. I go to Colaghty JCE near Lack Co Fermanagh. We have CE on Friday nights in our Parish hall.

I went to the CE Convention on Saturday the 18^th of September with my mum. I expected it to be a meeting where we would all sit on chairs and listen to someone talk but when we got there we were told we could sit on the floor if we liked and the adults could sit on chairs around the side. The speaker turned out to be a clown with a lot of puppet friends to sing, talk and act. The clown was colourful and she taught us a song called ‘heaven’s Hokey Cokey’. We watched puppets sing and tell a story, then big furry animals ran into the room , there was a zebra , lion, cheetah, elephant and giraffe the y were people dressed up but the looked really real! They wanted to play football but thought they were all no good!. The story helped me see that God loves me and wants me to work with others as part of his family.

Near the end we got a red balloon with a label on it. The balloon was big like God’s love and red to remind me of what Jesus did and the string was to help me remember. My balloon is away up in the sky now but I still have the label!

We sang songs, had juice and biscuits and got to go to a stall at the end. I bought a pencil and I got a badge with ‘One God One Family’ on it. I enjoyed my day and forgot that it was raining