Alice Amin, one of the young people involved in running ‘Whosoever’ in Uxbridge, shares what happened at their launch party for the project.
On a cold, wet night in October, Uxbridge was set ablaze by our “Whosoever Launch Party”. Over 40 young people aged 11-18 were welcomed to the event and enjoyed taking part in a range of exciting activities in St Margaret’s Church. With the aim of raising awareness and excitement about what is happening over the next year, we provided a series of mini-workshops and activities as a ‘taster’ for our future Whosoever events.
A ‘Gaming Station’ was created with comfy sofas, beanbags and pillows. Young people could relax, chat and cheer one another on in games of Mario Kart. In the ‘Bake Off Zone’, young bakers competed against each other to make the best chocolate cookies, whilst others got messy decorating cupcakes in just one minute. The Table Tennis and ‘Keepy-Uppy Challenge’ attracted loads of energetic young people to the ‘Sports Zone’, leading to some healthy competition and enthusiastic sport commentary. At the ‘Music Station’, there was an opportunity for young people to perform a song, try out a new instrument and sing with one another. By the end of the evening, one especially committed young person even learned a new tune on the ukulele!
The evening flew by and before we knew it, it was time to come back together to announce the ‘Bake Off winners’ and share some of the activities that had been happening during the evening – even the ‘Keepy-Uppy Champion’ had his moment of fame! Daniel, a young person on the Whosoever team, spoke about our project, as well as how we can be Peacemakers today, which was very well received following the stabbing of a young boy in Hillingdon a few weeks before the event.
Throughout the evening, there were snacks and free-flowing hot chocolate, which really helped people feel relaxed and chat to each other. We ended the night with a massive pizza delivery which young people and parents all enjoyed.
As a team, we all worked very well together and each took responsibility for an activity station. We really tried to engage with the young people who came, and wanted to make them feel welcome. The event was successful in reaching out to 22 non-churched young people, who all enjoyed themselves and said they were keen to come to our future events.
The team is already busy planning our next event, the ‘Whosoever Open Mic Night’ on Saturday 7th December in a local coffee shop. There will be music, festive activities and of course, hot chocolate.
Go ahead and check us out on Instagram @whosoever_uk to follow along and get your free tickets now on Eventbrite!
Whosoever is a movement run by a group of young people from St Andrew’s and St Margaret’s in Uxbridge. Supported by The Spark Fund, they run events for young people in the Borough of Hillingdon using workshops, video and social media to draw young people their own age into the church community.