Faith Club celebrates anniversary with Ignite Team

Gorleston and Great Yarmouth Faith Club has celebrated its fourth anniversary with a special Mass led by the children.

The celebration took place on Sunday February 12. Faith Club opened in 2019 for all children of primary school age with Fr Alvan Ibeh at its head. 

“We had really good times in our first year,” writes Chris Storman, “meeting twice a month for Faith, Fun, Food and Friendship on a Friday after school. We learned new things about our faith, played games and got to know each other better.” 

A summer outing and Christmas away day with a party were special activities. All went well and the young people enjoyed a first anniversary Mass and celebration in February 2020. 

Then came the Covid-19 pandemic. Although sad that they could not meet in the same way and needing to stay safe, the young people began to have Zoom meetings instead. They kept in touch with each other’s news and sang happy birthdays as they came along. 

They did online prayer, fun games such as Dog or Bible bingo, quizzes, and riddles. As things eased there was a trip to Cambridge and meeting up with friends from St Ives who they had previously only seen online. 

Since September the group has been meeting in St Peter’s hall. More distant friends are still invited to join on Zoom. For a Christmas celebration they invited the St Mary’s and St Peters First Holy Communion groups to party and hope some may like to join as members. There are a lot of children in both parishes who could enjoy the group. 

On the fourth anniversary the group celebrated with Mass at the St Peter’s regular 9.30 Sunday Mass. The children welcomed everyone, read the readings, sung the Psalm, read the Prayers of the Faithful beautifully, brought the offertory gifts to the altar and sang hymns and responses joyfully. 

Father Alvan acknowledged their efforts and bravery, and parents were thanked for their encouragement. This was echoed by Ciaran Losasso, leader of the diocesan Ignite youth team, who attended with three of his team members. 

He spoke to the children, mentioning that they were lucky to have such a club. All friends are valuable and loved, he said, but extra special when you can share your faith with them as well. 

The reception in the hall after Mass was wonderful. Many parishioners came to show interest and encouragement. The children sang some worship action songs and one member, Blake, read a presentation, painting a good picture of the activities. 

More Faith Food and Fun is planned for Year 5 and Fr Alvan hopes the club will grow and flourish in St Peter’s and St Mary’s.   

Pictured above is the Faith Club.