FDA Report 2008
Elizabeth Rosenberg, age 12, Porthcawl.
On the 11th to the 15th August my sister Isabelle and I went FDA (Five Days Away), which is the youth week for 12 - 17 year olds, in the Nightingale Centre, Great Hucklow. Here is what we did.
On Monday, we arrived, played some games with a parachute and basically got to know each other. After supper we had our first OWL (Our Whole Lives - the theme of the week) session, in that we just talked about what we believed in about our sexuality and other stuff.
After that was Credo Groups. Credo Groups is when you are put with people your own age and you get to talk about a particular subject. This is not always to do with the theme of the week (OWL). Then after Credo Groups is Circle Time this is just a time when you can wind down before you go to bed.
On Tuesday, we had another session of OWL and a five-mile hike. You had to walk from Great Hucklow to Eyam, but if you wanted to, you could take a bus back to Great Hucklow. I walked back with Joe, Clara, Natasha and 2 leaders, Lorna Hill and John Harley. Two boys ran back (Jack and Elliot) to try and beat the bus and they succeeded. But only just!! Also we had a very amusing knitting session lead by Sarah Warhurst, a boy in our group called Joe had all these amazing face expressions because, he was concentrating so hard and the look on his face when he dropped all his stitches put us all in fits of laughter!!!! It was a very enjoyable session. As well, we had Credo Groups and Circle Time.
Wednesday was our activity day we had a whole day (9 - 4pm) of Outdoor pursuits at Black Rock. We did rock climbing and orienteering. In orienteering I was in a group with Annabel Winters (Catford) and Clara Scott (Spain) and we got lost. Which was completely my fault for not being able to read a map. I thought I could read a map, but now I know that I can't. We decided to turn round and get un lost. It worked!
Rock climbing was extremely fun and at one part when we were climbing up quite steep rocks, my friend Maddie got her foot stuck she wiggled it but it wouldn't come out. Then she started shouting to the instructor that her foot was stuck and he kept quite calm but Maddie was still shouting. It was so funny but you kind of had to be there. Eventually she did get it unstuck by pulling it backwards. When we got back to Great Hucklow we had fish and chips, another OWL session, Credo and Circle Time. We also watched a DVD called 'Camp', which was quite good, and it is aimed at 12 year olds and above. It was very thought provoking about how to understand other people's dilemmas more easily.
On Thursday we had quite a lot of free time, an OWL session, and the Great Hucklow 'Well Dressing'. The 'Well Dressing' is when some people in the village make a beautiful picture and place behind the well so it's like dressing the well. There was also a blessing service, which was lead by David Shaw. But the best thing of all on Thursday was Showtime. There was the 'Arthur girls' (Isabelle, Chani, Sally, Sammy) FDA song sung to the theme tune of 'Arthur' (The children's programme), which was amazing. There was the boys game, 'Last Man Standing', which had every one in stitches. Last Man Standing is a game when some people have a load of tasks to do and the person who cannot perform the tasks is the loser and the one who can is the winner. But I have to say for some of us John Harley's story was particularly moving and with a surprising ending.
Friday was our last day, our final OWL session and the Bridging Ritual. Two people were leaving FDA because they were 17 and will be old to come back again next summer. But they are able to go to Senior Weekend (in November) and are probably going to join BUYAN for 18 - 35 year olds (The British Isles Unitarian Young Adult Network).So instead of having water over their hair like you have at your first time at FDA, they had to actually sit in the trough and get completely wet. After that it was time to go home. I don't think I've hugged so many people in such a short space of time in my life.
I think I inherited my mums map-reading skills because we got lost on the way home coming out of Birmingham. My mum didn't know where we were on the map; just like when I didn't know where we were on the map when we went orienteering!!
FDA is a lot of fun, loads of laughter, no parents, getting to know new people and meeting up with old ones, and getting to explore and talk about different sexual orientations in a fun and chatty way. NOT Heavy!!
This year was fun so next year is bound to even better and there are loads of spaces so come along!! And enjoy!
