43 

This project came about following the start of the Ukraine War and the online workshop with Caritas Diocese of Nottingham looking at support needed for Ukrainian Refugees who may end up in our area.

It can be very difficult for young people aged 11-17 to settle & feel welcome when they move to a new area, let alone those fleeing their homes, fleeing for their lives & coming to a country they speak little of the language & know of the culture.

The young people thought the leaflet was a good idea and between them they collated lots of information about what might interest young people who could end up living here. They used their own experiences of what they do & use – the list was extensive.  

We were lucky enough to be in contact with Helen Cliff who works as a volunteer at Care4Calais. She very kindly joined us for an evening to discuss the leaflet & give more ideas. She was very knowledgeable with what she knew about Refugees & their situations & she was able to answer the young people’s questions and discuss misconceptions.

Anna Ganechko translated the leaflet into Russian & Steve Watson into Ukrainian. We were very lucky to find Anastasia Konovalchuk & Natasha Akulenko (from USA) who both proof-read the Russian & Ukrainian.

We are very grateful to all these people who have supported our project, but we also thank:  Ellie Cunninghame for proof-reading the English, Gosia Brown at St Francis RC Primary School for her support & help, Maria Newton for help with design on photoshop, Benedict Newton for technical advice, & Matt Woods for website advice & uploading.

This project couldn’t have happened with the support & time given by these amazing people. The young people & myself are so grateful. Thank you.

Obviously a big thank you to the young people, for coming up with all the information & looking it up on their phones during the sessions – it wasn’t an easy task!

The leaflet has been sent to Churches Together, the schools, Police, Melton Times, the Melton College etc, so everyone can have access. We are also sending a template out to other Parishes & through Caritas Nottingham, so that others can use it to make a leaflet for their own areas, in their own design. 

It’s been great working with year 6 today in the park following their SATS this week. It’s the largest group I’ve ever worked with in the 43’s 16 years of history. It was a challenge getting to speak to everyone in the time available. The weather was kind and it was fun! They were all very well mannered and respectful.

We played a few games such as: ladders, Captain’s Orders, and Across the Swamp - which was a real challenge, as they had to work together as a team. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The ice creams and milkshakes were a huge hit!!

Whilst in school, I even unexpectedly bumped into an member, which was a lovely surprise!! They were one of the first young people to come to 43, & they now have their own children in the school.

Before Easter, 43 had done a variety of things.

We did an Irish night where the young people played a game using a dice and ‘dressing’ the leprechaun depending on the number thrown. This was fun.

Pyrography – wood burning was done on wooden spoons and wooden egg cups.

Some young people knitted a rectangle to make into an Easter chick, this took many weeks from the beginning of January.

For Mother’s Day, the Young People did glass painting and were able to give their Mums this as a presie. We chatted about making brekky for their Mums… in bed!!

Following the invasion of Ukraine, the young people made a prayer for Ukraine. They also made a collection of toiletries and medical bits for Ukraine which were handed into St Francis Primary school. They have also collated information to make a welcome leaflet for any Ukrainian refugees, 11-17 yr olds, who may come to Melton to live. This was followed up with looking at design. We also welcomed Helen Cliff from Care4Calais to talk about Refugees and her experiences of Refugees. She answered the young people’s questions and was very supportive about the project. This leaflet will soon be on our webpage, once the Ukrainian has been proof read…. watch this space……

Did you know that Ukrainians speak Ukrainian and/or Russian?......

We had an Easter evening where the young people made Easter baskets & filled them with easter eggs following an egg hunt. There were facts on each of the Easter eggs about refugees 

43 made a Memorial Flame.

The young people brainstormed their ideas & there were discussions about colours & how to decorate it. Once they had decided what they were doing, a small group decorated the flame & another group thought about positive & negative words regarding Genocide.

The idea was to put the negative words on the outside in the colour of ash, whilst the positive words were put in the middle of the flame in orange & yellow, with red hearts surrounding these words.

The idea being that we hope further genocides won't happen & our negative words will turn into ash & disappear, whilst within the flame our positive words will be surrounded with love & get more stronger. 

Following our last blog, 43 welcomed Sue from Melton Art Club to share her skills with the Young People. As this event coincided with St Francis of Assisi Feast day, the young people drew & painted/coloured their animals. There were many styles and they all did amazingly.

A huge thank you to Sue for her knowledge, inspiration, encouragement & art donation.

We did a Murder Mystery at the end of October. Everyone was given a named part with information about the murder & some had a photo. A year 7 lass was the Detective & she interviewed everyone. The year 7s were astonished that this murder had been real & taken place, when all the information was revealed. The victim was St Lucy whose jealous fiancé went to the Roman Governor of Sicily, Paschasius, as she refused to marry him. She was then tortured & murdered in 303AD, ultimately under the orders of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, for being a Christian.

For Diwali the young people made Rangoli paintings & also Henna tattoos were done on shoulders & ankles.

For Remembrance Day the young people painted poppies with glass paints on either glass or plates. These were very successful.

We had one session online where we looked at behaviour & consequences.

We finished the half term with a Christmas Eve Polish themed Party, where everyone bought in something to eat. There was a quiz & some games. The hay was laid in the middle of the table & an extra setting made. The lovely Nativity which we had from St Peter’s Church, was put out & the young people enjoyed looking at it. Everyone had fun. 

Melton 43 (Parish's 43) Wednesdays term time 7.30pm - 9pm @ United Reformed Church, Chapel Street. For School years 7 to 9. 

£1.50 per week. Termly subs £3. Tuck shop available. 

One off session £2

So why not come and join us on 24 Nov when we're making Christmas Decorations or on 1 Dec for the Christmas Party & Karaoke, or come along to both!

43 returned to face-to-face sessions at the United Reformed Church on 1st September, having been online for the last 18 months.

We began with a Paralympics evening, where the young people played sit down volleyball, boccia & blind ‘archery’ with a slingshot.

We held a Doodle competition for the National Doodle Day for the Epilepsy Charity & we raised £17. We also discussed what epilepsy is, how people feel like after a seizure, how to help if someone is having a seizure. We looked at how the young people would feel if they had a seizure in class.

We have also celebrated International Day of Peace. In particular we explored what Peace meant to the Young People. We then discussed young people’s lives in Afghanistan & their treatment under the Taliban regime. We then re-visited what Peace might mean to them now as an Afghani young person….. their thoughts about Peace changed dramatically.

We had our own Funfair. Games like Beat the Buzzer, Hook a Duck, Coconut Shy, Tin Can Alley to name a few were enjoyed. We even sold candy floss & popcorn which was cooked in the microwave for tuck. Everyone had a good time.  

A big thank you to Will & Malcolm from Melton Police Station who popped down to Redwood Park last night for our first face to face meeting since March 2020. They were great fun & it was a really positive experience for our young people.

This morning I have been working with small groups of Year 6. We have found out a little bit about each other. We played a game ‘I went to the moon & took suncream, …. Etc. This game not only involved remembering the ever-increasing list, but also watching what I was doing & how I was sitting. Some of the items on the list were most unusual & quite long!! – a pet giraffe named Jeremy, cutting an atom in half.

We then went on to play an Emoji Relay. There was a lot of running to find the emojis & then marking them off, but ensuring the rules were followed of passing over the line before the next person could go off. Everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves.

Since the young people made their blog in October, 43 has remained online. We have done lots of different things…..

We’ve made a Thinking of You card using the interactive whiteboard on Zoom. We made a Wellbeing/Kindness Advent Calendar, we planned for the Crimbo party. The young people made Malteser Tray bake in their own kitchens during one session. They looked delish!

We had an interactive powerpoint during Anti-Bullying Week, in particular looking at being online & having ‘Friends of Friends’. The young people learnt about ‘red flags’ & what is acceptable & isn’t acceptable with new friends online & the consequences of wrong choices. This was followed up with what to do if they are worried & getting help from someone they trust.

We watched a couple of short You tube videos about Guy Fawkes, even Horrible Histories! We followed this up with having a discussion about terrorism. We also did a Taskmaster evening. For Remembrance Day the young people watched online the Last Post & a minutes silence. It was very moving. We played Moksha-Patamu (Snakes & Ladders) for Diwali. This is a game that was used to teach good & evil. We played this on our interactive board on Zoom. Everyone giggled loads during this game when we kept going back down the snakes!!!

For our Christmas Party we played Christmas themed games…. Again the interactive whiteboard was used quite a lot….. We played Pin the nose on the Reindeer. First the young people drew a reindeer, then we all managed to somehow have an arrow or a circle which we moved using the mouse to where we thought the nose should be, with our eyes closed, of course! It was great fun. We also played Film Charades, Object Pictionary, Christmas Memory Game, where the pictures were changed on the second page. We had to guess what was in the sock, by asking questions. Sadly we ran out of time, although there was a lot more we had organised.

We hope everyone is able to have a lovely Christmas somehow this year. For some of our young people this will be Video calling family either nearby or in other countries, & some will be lucky enough to see family face to face, socially distanced of course. We do hope that you all manage to enjoy yourselves in some way or another.

We hope that 2021 proves to be a better year for everyone.

Stay safe & take care.

Last week 43 created their own wellbeing and kindness Advent Calendar.

The young people have written their blog showing some of the activities they have done online since March & Lockdown, continuing up to today. They have also included some of their Autumn photos.  

If you are interested in joining the 43, please see details in our poster below. Thank you. 

Since the country went into lockdown in March, 43 has continued online during term time. Sadly, we lost some members & also lost our usual intake from St Francis Year 6 pupils. However, we continue to meet virtually every Wednesday from 7.30pm on the Zoom platform.

During lockdown it was especially important to keep in contact with the young people. Not just to give them something to do, but also to engage with them, to ensure good mental health, to give them other people to chat to & have fun. Also, to give a form of normality and give the young people a safe space to express their feelings & worries, despite everything else going on around them.

We are for young people who are in the school years 7, 8 & 9. We meet from 7.30pm to 9pm.