Hope Journey Remembering

HOPE JOURNEY REMEMBERING

                                                               

What a joy to welcome nearly 100 Year 6 children from Greasby Junior School (in the morning) and Brookdale Primary School (in the afternoon) to our annual Hope Journey Remembering on Thursday 11th November. 

Following our introduction and welcome, we shared six workshops

Welcome to evacuation families by Air Warden Jeffries
  • The Anne Frank story – we considered the traumatic experiences of Anne Frank; thought about what Christians are remembering through the sharing of bread and wine at Holy Communion and wrote beautiful prayers which were offered at worship on Remembrance Sunday.
  • A Wartime Experience delivered whilst sitting in an ‘Anderson shelter’.  We thought about the different types of shelters, listened to experiences of those who survived WW2 and thought about how we would feel in such conditions
  • In the craft workshop we prepared a wreath of hope – hopes and dreams for ourselves, in our community and the world around us.  We talked about the hope Christians have in our Lord Jesus Christ as we shared refreshments.  The schools will display the wreathes in their classroom
  • What and Why we remember on Armistice Day 11th November and on Remembrance Sunday.  Following a DVD clip we talked about WW1; Silent Night and a game of football on Christmas Day 1914; WW2, other conflicts which have taken place and are ongoing today; the symbolism of different coloured poppies and thought about the poem Flanders Field
  • Untold Stories – following an introductory piecing together of a jigsaw, we understood the importance of piecing together stories to understand life during wartime.  Children read a number of stories written by local members who shared their experiences of living in WW2 and discussed what we can learn from them
  • Rationing and Evacuation – the children learnt about rationing; food shortages; ration books; weekly shortages and the points system, before considering evacuation – why? where? how? and how children must have felt at that time
Piecing together the jigsaw, then the stories

During the plenary the children shared what they had learnt from this Hope Journey.  They also received the usual take home gift bags with colouring sheets from the Royal British Legion, a word puzzle about Holy Communion, the Welcome back to Greasby Methodist Church leaflet, a Say One For Me card, a replica WW1 St Johns gospel issued to all men in active service; the Jelly Babies and Jesus story and a weekly ration of sweets (equivalent to 5 jelly babies) to share between the entire family of 7 for one week – that is if you could even get hold of some sweets!

St John Gospel, given to soldiers in WW1

We are looking forward to our next Hope Journey Meet The Characters which will take place on Thursday 9th December when we will welcome 60 Year 2 children from Greasby Infant School in the morning and 30 Year 2 children from Brookdale Primary School in the afternoon.  

Sue Elliott

Hope Journey co-ordinator