Unite 2019 – Celebrating 5 years
Wednesday 21st August 2019Around 280 young people and leaders from across England and Wales came together for Unite over the late May bank holiday weekend (24th to 27th May).
Unite takes place annually at Felden Lodge and is a weekend camp featuring a semi-structured programme, primarily aimed at 11 to 18 year olds. It is a great opportunity to enjoy a range of different activities, explore the Christian faith and meet other people from around the region.
The weekend saw opportunities to take part in activities such as football, archery, water games, a quiz, a campfire, human Cluedo, escape rooms and much more. The Sunday afternoon saw the Unite Carnival take place, which included activities such as various inflatables, zorb football, splat the rat, sponge throwing, coconut shy and sumo suits.
Evening entertainment included disco bingo, films, a neon-themed disco as well as Lip Sync meets Stars in Their Eyes, where lots of people got involved to put on a series of great performances!
There were times of worship where everyone came together in the Marquee (the main venue). Our speaker was Dez Johnston, Director of Alpha Scotland, who spoke on the theme “Avengers:
Some Assembly Required!
For those who wanted some quieter activities, the Cornerstone was a place to try some crafts, just chill out or have a chat with one of the pastoral team.
Dez: says ‘As someone with limited BB experience I didn’t know what to expect from Unite! I was blown away by the level of involvement in the young people’s thoughts, ideas and even recommendations on how to improve the camp! The team were epic and from a huge spectrum of backgrounds and really demonstrated what it meant to be part of a team to show with integrity what it means to be a Christian today. This is without doubt a huge part of the reason we saw 37 people Become Christians at the weekend! This camp is by far the most focused, diverse and fun camp I have ever been a part of and I have been to loads of camps and weekends! I cannot explain just how amazing it was… in fact I can I am coming back next year and bringing some Scottish groups to see just how amazing it really was!’
Each group at Unite was part of either the blue, red or yellow village, each of which was led by two Village Leaders. They competed against each other to earn points for taking part in activities and winning competitions, with the aim of being named the ‘best village’ during the Unite awards ceremony at the end of the weekend. For the second year running the winners were the blue village, led by Dan Charles of 3rd Gateshead and Will Dixon of 1st Newport (IOW). Well done team blue!
Planning is already underway for Unite 2020, which will again take place over the late May bank holiday weekend (22nd to 25th May). Keep an eye on our website and social media over the coming weeks and months for more details!
