Today we kicked off a new year of Youth Group with an afternoon at the Horseshoe Lake Watersports Centre in Sandhurst. The leaders didn’t actually venture into the water, however it wasn’t exactly a quiet afternoon. Beth and Cathy had to keep track of all the paperwork needed for taking a group of twelve young people out on the water, whilst Steve and myself ended up helping the girls to build their raft after the eight boys decided that it was boys versus girls for the raft building.

Having said that, Steve and myself did feel rather chuffed later on. When the boys raft was turned over, one of the barrels rolled off – they had tied the rope around the barrel, but not the logs – and the instructors said it wasn’t safe to use. The girls raft that we had helped to build held together as it was flipped over, and survived having all the young people on it to paddle around the lake, and was even in one piece when they pulled it out at the end. Steve and I were pretty pleased as we had started helping out after the instructor had given the instructions on how to build the raft, so to some extent were making it up as we went along!

Following on from the rafting, the young people had an hour out on the paddle boards. This took place in a separate part of the lake, giving them a chance to fall in as much as they liked. This also gave us leaders a break, so Beth fed the ducks, whilst I took pictures, and Cathy and Steve got the food together.

All in all, a nice way to start off the term, even if it was a little grey and cold. The young people certainly seemed to have a good time. We took a load of pictures during the afternoon, so if anyone in the group wants copies drop me a line.