Introduction
The history of youth at St Mary's spans back many years. Its current leader, Charlie Farmery, has been in his position for 4(ish) years. Last January he started a Friday night youth club aimed at 11-14's called Rock Solid (original source yfc). The first few went really well and after a while he started asking other leaders to take part. In January 2005, I took on this task along with Christine. The aim; to help children enjoy their Friday evening, to get them involved and to get across the idea that Jesus is no.1.
Method
the youth leaders took the Rock Solid material, and pick and chose their programme. This involved one game called 'jelly and marbles'. The aim is to get as many marbles out of set jelly in a set time limit. For this purpose, a child from the crowd timed 60 seconds.
To play this game the youth worker used three types of jelly. Lime (for its smell), orange and red, the jelly was described as sunset orange. It was then transported from fridge to fridge in 4 tubs, one per volunteer. It is vital that the jelly is kept cold and out of sight, for maximum feel and effect. The youth worker requested 4 volunteers and asked them to sit on chairs on a protected floor. The jelly was brought out and the rules of the game were explained. Remove the marbles from the jelly, as many as possible in 60 seconds. You are only allowed to use your foot. Go! When the time was up the marbles were counted.
Results
2 out of the 4 volunteers got 13. This shows that they have good skill. Also both were girls.
No comment as yet: the theory that girls are great needs further exploration.
Conclusion
The aim of the game was completed. Everyone enjoyed themselves. 'Good game, good game' Charlie Farmery, 2005 (original source Bruce Forcythe). Improvements come in the form of using more leaders in the game. One may not have been enough. It may also be a good idea for replicas to include disgusting colours of jelly, achieved with food colouring. Choosing children who decide that they will play to the rules is always good (Joe Mason, tipping the container should be made illegal, cheater!). It might be an idea to sell jelly shortly after game, and hand out jelly related prizes, which the youth worker forgot on this occasion.
Recommendations: become a youth worker, if only to play messy games.
