diocesan news
Cathedral Chaos
Over two hundred children (and 50 adults) form all over the Diocese of Swansea & Brecon attended a day especially for them at Brecon Cathedral last Saturday. The whole day was packed with fun activities which included all sorts of things from face painting to making bookmarks, banners, badges and more and there was even a bouncy castle in the nave.
Visitors who came to the Cathedral were a bit taken aback to see such a hive of activity including bouncing on the bouncy castle. One visitor from near Winchester said that it was good to see the Cathedral full of life and full of children having fun. Another from Caerphilly said, “What a brilliant idea to use the Cathedral in this way. In the past Cathedrals would have been used for markets and all sorts of events. Its nice to see a cathedral alive.”
The event was organised by the Rev’d Kay Warrington the Diocesan Children’s officer. The Rev’d Warrington has been Children’s officer in the Diocese for 14 years and this was her final event before moving on to new pastures.
The closing worship was led by The Rev’ds Tim Williams (they share the exact same name and were both ordained on the same day). The worship included several action songs for young and old to join in, a sketch performed by the two Tim’s and the use of some spectacular stage pyrotechnics as the Bishop and Kay were introduced.
In the sketch the two Tim’s showed how some people in society thought of the church and everyone present was reminded that the young people were the church - not a building. They were not the church of tomorrow but the church of today because without the church of today there is no church of tomorrow. By the noise of the cheer at the end of the event it was pretty obvious that the event had been enjoyed by all and been a great success.
Bishop John thanked Kay for her had work over the past 14 years and he thanked the children for coming to enjoy and add to the chaos in the Cathedral.He hoped that they would go back to their own churches and tell everyone that church wasn’t all boring but could be great fun. In turn Kay thanked the committee who had helped her with the day and all the volunteers without whom the day would not be possible.
| Finally she handed the job of Children’s officer to The Rev’d Ben Griffiths and wished him well in his new role. The children all left very tired but happy clutching a bag full of things that they had made and a bottle of Holy Water from Priory Well. |  |
Te Rev’d Warrington said, “There was a great atmosphere in and around the Cathedral and the children seemed to enjoy the activities. At lunchtime, it was lovely to see groups picnicing outside with some playing "hide and seek" inside! Two little girls came up to me at the end and said thank you - and that makes it all worthwhile.”