Between 22nd and 24th April 20 members of FUSION (along with 12 children in Years 4-6 and 16 adults) went to the Quinta Christian Centre near Oswestry, Shropshire for a weekend away together. After the success of our 2015 visit we were very excited to go back and plans had been made throughout the year.
Here is a short review of the weekend to give you a taste of what we did:
Friday night:
Some leaders arrived at the site at about 2pm to begin setting up and get the Tesco food order! By about 6:30pm everyone was beginning to arrive, find their rooms and eat lots of great BBQ food. Parents joined in with this before beginning the journey home.
After the BBQ we joined together for an introduction into our theme of the weekend: Transformation. This was followed by a LEGO challenge where groups had to find objects to remove some LEGO from a toxic box and then build the set before the other teams to win! This was great fun and everyone got involved. By the time we had finished it was gone 9pm and time for hot chocolate. After this everyone was given free time to get their sort their rooms out, chat or use our games room. Eventually, everyone went to bed ready for an exciting day on Saturday!
Saturday:
The morning began bright and early for the leaders with a meeting at 7:30am, before everyone was woken up at 8am to get ready for breakfast. At 9am we had our first Bible study session, investigating what the verse 2 Corinthians 5:17 means to us. After this we got ready to head into nearby Oswestry for the Oswestry Challenge. The challenge involved walking around the town in groups answering questions and taking photos of our team at certain landmarks. When we had finished we visited Mollie’s, the legendary sweet shop, before heading back to the site for lunch.
After lunch we took part in an art activity, transforming old jigsaws into the letters of our first names.Later in the afternoon we played games of Manhunt and Capture the Flag in Quinta’s massive grounds.Then, we looked in a bit more detail at what being a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) means for us, before eating lots of spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread with a pudding of ice cream and home-made chocolate sauce! After tea we had some free time before heading down to a bonfire in the grounds where we played games and toasted marshmallows!
Sunday:
We woke up again at 8am and after breakfast had our final meeting together. This gave us an opportunity to review and reflect on the weekend’s sessions and the impact it has on us. Then we got ready to go on a walk with the whole group. We walked three miles in the local area, walking into Wales and out again, visiting the gates of Chirk castle, walking across fields, through woods and along canal tow paths (including a 400m tunnel and aqueduct). The weather was lovely and we were able to have lots of conversations with everyone. By the time we returned it was time for lunch, Sunday dinner with chocolate sponge and chocolate custard! Once we had finished lunch it was time to pack up and go home!
Everyone was very tired by Sunday but had all had a great weekend together and some people even want to stay for a week next year!
If you would like to come to Quinta 2017, keep an eye out for more details here and at FUSION. Dates will be confirmed soon!
FUSION @ St. John's 