children

    PILOTS is our children and young people’s group and we are part of the National PILOTS organisation which has around 140 companies around the country.
    Everyone aged 4 to 18 is welcome and we meet every Friday from 6.30 pm until 8 pm in term time. No uniform is necessary and it costs just 50p per week.
    Usually we have between 20 and 30 people each week and we have 12 leaders who work with the young people, all of whom are CRB checked.
    We all join in for songs, pop and biscuits then we divide into four groups depending on age for stories, crafts, discussion, games and lots more, all in a Christian environment.
    Our outings and day trips have included 50 PILOTS and their parents going to Legoland and Longleat Safari Park and on 15th May 2010 we went to Warwick Castle along with 2,000 other PILOTS from around the UK.
    Some of our older PILOTS have chosen to go on summer camps with PILOTS from all over the country, and will be going again this year. Several of them have now undertaken a Leadership Training Course.

If you’d like to know more contact Mark on 07850 856764 or just come along and try it.

Olympic 75th Celebration at West Midlands Pilots

A joint celebration held at Broadway Pilots in the Cotswolds had an Olympic theme because the Pilots Organisation and Brockworth Pilots were formed in 1936 and 1958, both Olympic years. One of the sports was 'shove ship-halfpenny' in recognition of the young people who raised money to buy a ship for missionaries to travel across the world to tell people about Jesus. Over 50 Pilots and 22 parents, officers and helpers enjoyed burgers , hot dogs, a fantastic cake, and chocolate bars that were launched in the different decades of Pilots. Karen Bulley-Morrison, the National Pilots Development Officer told a story of the missionaries and everyone joined in with the energetic actions.

Master Mariners at Broadway Pilots

At the West Midlands Pilots 75th Celebration Karen Bulley-Morrison presented Broadway Pilots Tom, Orrion, Jenni, Melissa, Victoria and Sophie with their Master Mariner awards to the tremendous cheers of a packed church.

Brockworth Pilots Officers team awarded badges
In recognition of their contribution to the ongoing success of Brockworth Pilots since it was formed in 1958, the team received their officers badges from Karen at the West Midlands Pilots 75th celebration at Broadway URC. Well done Barbara, Sam, Cloe, Tor and Brittany.

The church has just been given this award. It means that the leaders all have their Criminal Record Bureau disclosures and enough have done a First Aid course and Child Protection course. Other safeguards are in place as well. The church has a Pilots group, runs morning activities at Easter and Christmas and a week long activities mornings in August. We also take school assemblies. (see below).

Grants for a new building. The church has recently heard the news that two grants have been awarded to help in the construction of a new building. This will replace a very old and very unsafe building that is falling down. The new building will be wooden and half will be for storage of equipment and the other half for use by the young people (and others if required). As you can see from the 'Children' link, we do a lot of work with young people and this will provide more space for their activities.

The grants have been awarded by two organisations. One is from Wychavon Community Grants for £5,000 and the other from Awards for All which is part of the Big Lottery Fund and is for £10,000. We give sincere thanks to both organisations as without these grants we could not proceed with the project.

The school assemblies have now been in operation for over four years and we are now into our fifth year at Broadway First School. We have also been going into St. Mary's Catholic School for over two years. Both those leading, and the children, are enjoying them. As far as we know, this is the first time a group has done this. Altogether 6 people have been involved, coming from several different churches but they are under the leadership of the URC. The course being followed is called 'Open the Book', the 'book' being the Bible. The version used is especially written for children and is called 'The Lion Storyteller Bible'. The 'Lion' part is the name of the publisher. The scheme complies with Government regulations for school assemblies and many of the group attended a whole day of training to learn how to do them.

Both the First Schools came to the church for their Christmas assembly. Over the weekend of 3 - 5 December we hold our Christmas Tree Festival. On the Monday morning at least 140 children squeezed in for a joint assembly, together with teachers and a few parents. We did the Open The Book story for Christmas and some songs.

The church has been involved with the Chernobyl 2000 charity for many years. They collect all types of goods for the people of Belarus who are still suffering from the explosion of the nuclear power station many years ago. The last collection took place on Friday 5th February when the Pilots brought goods and then on Sunday 7th February, before and after the service. This time we only wanted small items such as soap, toothpaste and brushes, painkillers, baby clothes, washing powder, school stationary, art and craft items, sports equipment, wool, hospital equipment, disposable nappies of all sizes, baby bedding, cleaning materials, stationary, pens and pencils, bedding, dress making material, basic medical supplies. All consumables are continually and urgently needed and all non consumables must be in good condition. Any equipment must have instructions for use. The next collection will be in the autumn.

The church takes the lead in organising an Activities Week in August for local children of school age. Under the leadership of Bill Nelson there are about 30 other people who help, from actively leading groups to supplying the drinks and biscuits. There can be anything up to around 100 children taking part during the week. Both helpers and children come from the village and surrounding area. A published course is followed for the instruction part of the morning before the children go into different age groups for a wide variety of activities. One day they go out on a visit to somewhere so they can let off steam and enjoy themselves. The Friday evening is when the parents come and see what the children have been doing and enjoy a barbeque.

At Easter and Christmas, morning events are held. The children have stories about the events of those times, before they engage in practical activities. The Easter event is held on Good Friday.

Children's Easter Activity morning will be held on Friday 6th April 2012, 9.30 until 12.30.

Children's Summer Activity Week The date for 2012 has not been fixed, but is likely to be the first week of August.

Children's Christmas Activity Morning, This will be held on Saturday 3rd December 2011, starting at 9.30 a.m. until 12.30 p.m.

In November 2009, 10 Pilots, 3 Leaders and others from the church took part in the Broadway Players pantomime, Cinderella. (Broadway Players was started by the URC). One of the Pilots played Cinderella.

Waiting for the children to arrive!
	The bigger the children, the bigger the model, and the mess!
Learning how to make a tent frame.
	Model making

	Cinderella about to leave for the ball.
	Cinderella and her father, Baron Hardupp
	6 little maids are we, in rehersal, waiting to go on stage.
	In full voice.