Bournville Parish Church

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It’s our second week at the Bournville Film School we’ve been starting to get our teeth into things!

The young people are now working in three different groups with Richard (music, sound effects), Joanne (dramatic skills, writing) and John (camera work, scenery). Richard helped the young people to think about creating effects for different sounds that we might want in our finished film; Joanne looked at delivering lines and what difference posture and emphasis can have on the viewer; John explained about framing shots and setting up scenes to best communicate what is going on.

The evening ended with a reconnaissance of the centre and church with the view to using them for possible story lines. Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday!

New Baby – Our son, Andrea Gregory, was born on Thursday 12th January. After a tiring stop/start labour he appeared two weeks overdue and was born at home. Joanne, myself and our whole family would like to thank everyone for their kind words of support, prayerful encouragement and congratulations over the past few weeks! In case you’re wondering, it’s pronounced An-dray-a and he is named after his great, great grandfather. Read the rest of this entry »

Images from the first night can be found at the link below Enjoy!

Flickr Album (click!)

On Wednesday 25th February our youth club hosted the Bournville Film School, which will be running over the coming term and training young people in music, writing, media and acting skills with the aim of producing a short film – made by the young people themselves!

The first night was lots of fun with games to build up the friendships we will need to work well together in the coming months. We had over 20 participants, 7 young leaders and 3 adult helpers – not forgetting Richard, Joanne and John, who lead the evenings activities.

I will keep you up to date on this blog so please keep checking back.

Paul Northam (Youth Worker)

Here’s what the young people had to say about the first evening:

It was awesome… I liked it, it was fun… I enjoyed this, especially the acting and I hope to continue with all enthusiasm… I thought it was good… Very good, loved the activities, looking forward to the weeks to come… It was fun… Brilliant… I really enjoyed the session, it really helped me with my acting dream. Thanks xx… I enjoyed it much and had a lot of fun… Awesome… Brilliant, epic… Interestingly brilliant… It was very good and I liked the use of the word Zebra… I felt awesome because I love acting… I want to make a movie… I loved it and I can’t wait to make a film… Cool… I loved everything about this. I learned that people are really running out of movies to make… I feel like I knew everyone straight away! Epicosity! I love this place… It was really good and I am looking forward to next week.

I pray that you had a happy and holy Christmas!

Fencing  – As part of our FAITHFUL programme of events in December we put on an evening of Fencing run by Professor Peter Northam (yep, that’s my dad). You can find some pictures on the blog. Everyone learned how to handle a weapon and some even had a go at ‘electric’ fencing – which records hits automatically – an example of which can be seen during the London Olympics next year. Read the rest of this entry »

Cocoa and Compline – Over the past few weeks FAITHFUL have been singing Compline on Sunday evenings – the ancient night prayer of the Church. We have learnt nearly all of it and the young people sing it beautifully, if I say so myself. This is generally followed by cocoa and doughnuts – yum! Read the rest of this entry »

I am pleased to be able to post some photos of our Oblation ceremony at St Mary’s Abbey, Colwich on 23rd October during the morning Mass. This was an enjoyable occation for Joanne and I which is about making the Rule of St Benedict the basis of our continuing Christian discipleship.

Running up Bournville Lane

Thanks to everyone who has supported and sponsored me and Team St Francis in the Great Birmingham Run.

My final time was 2 hours and 14 minutes, which I was really pleased with.

So far we have raised just over £3,000. If you still wish to donate you can do so securely on line by clicking here.

Thought for the Day:  Reflections on the Half-Marathon

30th October 2011

Last Sunday morning I took part in the Great Birmingham Run. It was the first time that I have ever done anything like that and it was a fantastic experience.  Now I have never been much of an athlete and the last time I did any serious exercise was at school. Then, back in May, someone persuaded me to enter the half-marathon.  I thought it would give me the challenge I needed to train properly and really get in shape. I also thought that I could get sponsored and raise some much-needed funds for our church community work. Though I must admit, having accepted the challenge, I did begin to wonder if it was really just an expression of my mid-life crisis as I felt the need somehow to prove myself physically. Read the rest of this entry »

Reasonable Faith – In recent weeks an American Christian apologist called Dr William Lane Craig has been touring England giving philosophical and rational arguments for faith at numerous debates and lectures. He is particularly well known for his Kalaam Cosmological Argument and his critique of Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion. I saw him debate at Birmingham University at the end of October. More info about Dr Craig – as well as some of his debates – can be found at www.reasonablefaith.org. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to Mr Nutbeam – It is with great pleasure that we welcome Richard Nutbeam as Yr6 teacher and Assistant Head at St Francis School. I was particularly happy to find out that I would be working with him since we were colleagues previously – at Boots in Harborne from 2003-4. I would like to wish him every success in his new role and ask that you keep him in your prayers as he settles in to the school. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a busy summer at St Francis Youth – here’s what’s happened while you’ve been away..! Read the rest of this entry »