On Tuesday 30th September the 5th Year travelled to St Lucy's Convent in Medstead for a day's retreat and reflexion. Although the day was wet and cold and we did not get chance to walk around the stunning gardens at St Lucy's, this did not end our activities, we found plenty to do!

We started the day with a few simple activities to get ourselves warmed up, these included arranging ourselves in birthday order and in height order symmetrically, with the tallest in the middle, all without talking! We coped surprisingly well and got ready for the rest of the day. We took a quiz about the facts of water in the world, moving about to different parts of the room to show our answers. We were thrown in to the deep end, but the answers to the questions really sunk in, for instance we learnt that the amount of water used in one toilet flush in the UK is the equivalent to how much water, on average, a single person in Gambia uses in one day. We were then put into groups and given a pack which contained information about aspects of water, such as facts and real-life stories; we then created a presentation to display the facts and stories which we found. This helped us to share information and resulted in news stories, role plays and raps!

After lunch we had time to write prayers, we wrote them about anything that was coming up or on our minds, this reflective, quiet time created beautiful prayers to God, some of which were read out. Sadly Canon Whale could not be with us to offer mass, so we gathered in the Chapel to hear some readings and prayers. The day was quiet, relaxing but most of all fun. We learnt about people in the world and how water can effect them and also learnt about each other.

Thank you so much to the Sisters at St Lucy's Convent for allowing us to spend a day of contemplation and learning, we all had a wonderful time. 

Eleanor VA