Ali has written a great piece on the context for Church and it's engagement with young people, and the reason why the cutting of youth and children's adviser posts nationally is so flawed. Important read

I just have to retrieve the cycle trailer from Shed 2, prep it and put the linkage on one of the old bikes. The reason for this is I am not a big fan of queuing. The funereal procession of cars around the one way system of Centre Parcs to drop your stuff off is, in my mind, a duff start to the stay. So I just abandon the car at the first available Car Park space, attach the trailer to the bike, throw everything onboard and cycle to 'key collection' and onto the chalet. (Maybe I'll make a Youthblog flag for the trailer today)

See you there :-)

* I have a a new trailer now with a waterproof cover so an upgrade from the Plywood deck above

Stay with me as I think this works!!!

The Mary Celeste!
Is the story of the Mary Celeste fact or fiction?

I'm going to have to push you for an answer here!

Well, the answer is in fact 'both!' There really was a ship called the Mary Celeste that was found abandoned, but the eerily strange legend around 'places laid, meals uneaten and the like is fabrication from a fictional story woven around the truth by Conan Doyle.

So here's why this is interesting:

Stuff that people perceive to be true of adolescence and in fact of teenagers themselves are often based in truth BUT they can easily hold the fictional embellishment, not the actual truth.

For example stuff around teens being Lazy. The truth is that a change to their internal body clock and the scale of change occuring at adolesence produces not just fatigue but a change that renders evening and late nights a time of energy, whilst mornings become a challenging time indeed. So their lie-ins (when possible) and times of lethargy are a reality that is extrapolated to make a more negative, and fictional perceived tru-ism.

Teens are self-centred. They are actually a hugely alltruistic bunch and involved in lots of 'making a difference' stuff. It is true though that the adolescent brain is going through a piece of development that does in actual fact make empathy harder, and mean some of their thinking/behaviour is trapped more easily in ego-centricity.

Young People are dangerous criminal Yobs (I'm including this one for readers of the Daily Mail). Again a small piece of truth extrapolated to a principal. There is a small proportion of young people whose life experience has produced anger, alienation and emotional pain who can be a problem. The truth is that the vast vast majority by a LONG LONG way are not. Young people are far more often the victims of crime than the perpetrators. When they hang around in groups it is more often than not because there is nowhere to go, and being together is both social .... AND safer.

I could go on but I thought the Mary Celeste was a useful way to look at how a small element of truth becomes woven into a universal and negatively skued story.

Supplemental: Available for a short while, article: What's wrong with the teenage brain?

Report from the DFE that I'll flag up here: Engaging Adults in Youth Volunteering

Was at a Church building recently where, rather bizarrely I thought, ancient Romans and Oxbridge Classics scholars were prohibited from smoking?

As promised: I'm uploading the powerpoint slides: Microsoft PowerPoint - Mend the Gap teenage follow up day Bucks.pdf

I also wanted to flag up some of the key links. This is a really useful rendering of the Frank Lake Acceptance Cycle. The two key books we were referring to were Contemplative Youth Ministry and Practicing Passion.

If there is other stuff you are after, the chances are that you can type the subject into the search (top of the right hand column) and I'll have scribbled something .... or just ask.

It's the last of the 4 days around engaging with teens tomorrow and I'm up in t'North of Diocese at Stony Stratford. We'll be looking at what it means for our churches to be good news for young people, we'll also be de-mythologising Youth work and teenagers. I'm looking forward to it ..... although not the leaving the house at 07:00, ug!

On Sunday I'm running some young leader training over in Berkshire, not sure yet whether I'll be using "The Key," or "CPAS Growing Leaders" or retreiving stuff from the collected corners of my brain and the laptop.

A good weekend me-thinks, a little lacking in R&R but hey it's only a week until Soulnet

Last time I went to Soul Net I was Norman-no-mates, at least at the beginning of the event. So, this time ..... cunning plan. I booked in with the Guildford crew so we could share chalets, catering and general conviviality.

Good Plan, huh? (Even to the extent of me co-cooking Sunday lunch for the Guildford Crew)

Slight fly in the ointment is that I am way way way the opposite site of Chaletdom to the Guildfordians and hence, Norman-no-mates once more. Hey ho :-)

If anyone would like to adopt a Diocesan Youth Adviser, apply below ...

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Supplemental: There is now an online petition :

The cutbacks are going to hit Yellow Braces Camp this year ...... no swimming pool. Oxford local authority cuts mean no money for keep the pool open, a bitter blow (although completely trivial in comparison to those who have lost jobs, support, facilities or funding).

I hold two Lifeguard qualifications and own the T shirt (though not the Baywatch physique). Sadly however no pool at which to ply my trade.

Yellow Braces without the pool is a bit like Chips without Ketchup!
(Alternative Ideas for Pool levels of fun are welcomed)

A recordable CD that looks like a vinyl single!!!! Come on, what's not to LOVE! Fab