Kelsall Village, near Chester, Cheshire, UK

St Philips Youth Club

The St Philips Youth Club, supported by St Philips Church, meets at least once a month, generally in the Community Centre, and offers a wide range of activities, such as team games, quizzes, crafts and cooking to name but a few! Snooker, pool, tennis and badminton are firm favourites. Regular trips are also organised, such as orienteering, swimming, ice skating and bowling. Most sessions are split into two age groups namely 'Years 7 & 8' and 'Year 9 and above'. We have a core group of leaders, but, as always, a few extra helpers would be very, very welcome!

Table Tennis (Age 12 - 14)

Duke of Edinburgh (age 14 - 19)

The Duke of Edinburgh group in Kelsall has been running for about three years. We aim to complete expedition training in the winter and start practices in the spring leading to full expeditions at all levels in the summer. We expect participants to arrange to complete the rest of the requirements at each level of the award themselves with advice and guidance from the leaders.

Around 40 young people have benefitted from involvement in all sections of D of E at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels. The expedition section has been particularly successful with several trips taking place to different areas including North Wales, Yorkshire Dales and Shropshire. The group has enough equipment (tents, stoves, maps etc) to run camping events for up to 30 at a time. There is also a small but dedicated set of leaders and a network of helpers prepared to help with lifts and manning checkpoints etc when needed.

Please contact Peter Moore (01829-759179) if you are interested in any of the following:

• Joining a new Bronze group, starting in December, with expeditions in May and June. Minimum of 4, maximum 14. Open to youngsters who will be 14 years of age up to June 2012.
• Joining those of this year's Bronze group who are progressing to Silver in 2012. Open to youngsters who are 15 (or very near).
• Helping the group as a Leader or Helper. Map skills and an interest in country walking are the essentials but patience and being a car driver are also very useful.

Contact (01829-759179) for more information.

St Philips Meetings and Services

Pit Stop (age 11 - 15) meets once a month at the vicarage. There is a meal and then a 45 minute session based around a topic relevant to youth with a focus on Christian values. This term we are using Simpsons DVDs to illustrate points. We have covered self esteem, jealousy, anger, bullying, success/failure and many more. Some of the young people have gone on to confirmation.

Whatever Group (age 11 - 15) meets on a Sunday morning during Church and discuss biblical topics.

Whatever Next (age 15 - 17) meets on a Sunday evening once a month to discuss biblical topics.

Ipraise (age 12+) meets once a month on a Sunday evening. This is an informal service aimed towards young people with a band.

Kelsall Youth Support Group

This steering committee was set up to involve the participation of young people in developing facilities and activities locally and to give them a 'voice'. The committee is made up of local parents, young people and other interested members of the community. We are responsible for applications for funding, progress reports, action plans to fully utilise available funds and the proper accounting of all monies made available to the organisation.

We have, for several years now, employed the Chester Detached Team, comprising 2 Youth Workers who regularly visit Kelsall and engage with the young people in various ways such as projects, listening to what the young people have to say, challenge behaviour in an appropriate way, help the young people to have a voice and an active positive role within the community. With the support of our youth worker, Jimmy, the young people have successfully bid for over £4000 to go towards the purchase of a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA). At the moment there are several funding applications in the pipeline to make the MUGA into a full-size all weather area and we are doing everything possible to make this dream a reality.