Enabled Summer Extravaganza: New beginnings

Chris Stringer (Learning Disability Inclusion Development Manager, THQ) reports on this year's Enabled Summer Extravaganza.

It was a case of the new as we renamed the Enabled Summer School the Enabled Summer Extravaganza at the suggestion of Enabled members. We also had a new venue in Northampton, as our previous venue – the National Star College in Cheltenham – could no longer accommodate the number of places that we needed.

With a new venue came new dates in June, rather than our traditional July/August dates. We also welcomed the highest number of newcomers for many years, with six new members and eight new supporters attending for the first time.

Given that so much was new, the theme for the Enabled Summer Extravaganza was New Beginnings. In our fellowship groups, we considered new beginnings by exploring the Bible stories of Ruth, Noah and the prodigal son.

Supporters arrived in the afternoon of the Sunday, which gave them an opportunity to explore before some training on neurodiversity. On Monday morning, supporters had a time of worship followed by health and safety, and safeguarding briefings, then a team meeting.

The prayer room was set up with members and supporters able to visit the prayer room throughout the week. There were also opportunities to take part in supported prayer with the pastoral care team throughout the week.

Members arrived from 12pm on Monday to be shown to their rooms and around the conference centre. The event officially started with a welcome session, where we sang the Enabled song, were introduced to the leadership team, welcomed those attending for the first time, enjoyed a game of ‘Would You Rather?’ and considered a message about fellowship.

We then had the opportunity to take part in our main activities for the week. The options were band, choir or timbrels followed by musicals, Music Man Project or – a new option for this year – video production.

For the first time we also introduced an option to the Enabled choir with some people choosing Godly Craft as an alternative to crafts. Members were able to explore faith through crafts with the opportunity to create mini figures, paint or draw on pebbles, colour or paint pictures or make jewellery.

There were numerous optional activities during the week, which included bag-decorating and card-making, sports such as rounders and tennis, making coconut ice and peppermint creams, BSL (British Sign Language), mindfulness, exercise, a dance workshop where we experienced mirror dancing and some workshops on daily life, from travelling by bus to keeping safe online. One optional activity was playing with the contemporary band, which was introduced for the first time last year.

Some activities were broadcast live from the Enabled Summer Extravaganza and are available on the Enabled YouTube page.

We started each day with worship, which was mainly led by members this year. Our fellowship groups comprised Godly Play, Bible studies, including an accessible Bible study, discussion group and sensory group.

On Tuesday afternoon, we hosted a community event. We were delighted to be joined by Territorial Leaders Commissioners Jenine and Paul Main, along with other visitors. The activities were face-painting, a caricature artist, a giant Operation game, air hockey, a giant buzz wire, circus skills, bubble magic, some animals and an ice cream van. We were also joined by SP&S for the afternoon.

On Wednesday, we enjoyed the Wednesday Fiesta. Members and supporters could go out for the day and some went off to explore Northampton or Rushden Lakes. Some chose to stay at King’s Park and enjoyed activities, including a singalong and a mime dance workshop with the company Speechless. On Wednesday evening, we enjoyed the film Barbie.

Thursday and Friday were a mixture of worship, fellowship and activities. On Thursday evening, we held our Spotlight talent night. Members’ skills and talents included juggling, singing, dancing and comedy. On Friday evening, we enjoyed a disco and photo booth, which had an Olympic theme. One of the strengths of King’s Park was that we were all able to be together in the evening and enjoy fellowship in the lobby.

Saturday started with a surprise presentation to Chris Stringer to celebrate an upcoming birthday. This was followed by final group rehearsals prior to our Saturday afternoon celebrations.

Family members and supporters, along with local Salvationists, were invited to join us from 2pm for the presentation of certificates by Secretary for Business Administration Lieut‐Colonel Paul Kingscott. 

After refreshments, the groups shared what they had been practising all week with performances from the Music Man Project, band, contemporary band, choir, and musical groups. This was followed by a presentation by the video production group. The afternoon was rounded off by a high‐energy performance by the timbrel group.

A buffet was enjoyed by everyone and this was followed by the Enabled choir, a presentation from the Godly Craft group, a dance performance and a message from Lieut‐Colonel Paul. The evening ended with everyone singing ‘Witness All Over the World’.

Feedback suggests that King’s Park was a great venue. Some are suggesting this was the best summer gathering ever! We had a great week of faith, fun, fellowship and friendship. We will be back next year as we celebrate 50 years since our first summer gathering back in 1975.