Stables and School Halls

Many of you, who have read our past newsletters, will remember that the COVID-19 crisis led us to launch our media project.  Over the past few months, we have continued to produce more online assemblies that we send to schools and upload to our YouTube channel. We have continued to face challenges as we get more used to creating these, particularly as the weather has gotten worse, leading to some pretty muddy shoots!
The announcement of the second lockdown required us to move our whole advent filming schedule up at relatively short notice. However, the team was well prepared, with multiple assemblies already written and ready to go. We had planned to film some of these advent assemblies on a farm, and thanks to the generosity and flexibility some local farmers, Paul and Jessica were able to take a trip to a farm the day before the lockdown began to get these projects filmed. They spent the day surrounded by lots of new animal friends (including three very cheeky ducks!) and their distinctive aroma. Despite the pressure to film as much as possible, something that stood out for Paul and Jessica was how peaceful the farm was, even amongst all the noise and chaos of the animals. Standing in the middle of a messy, noisy stable, similar to the kind of situation Jesus was born in, seemed like the perfect way to share this peace with the children, teachers, and families who will be watching these assemblies.
This term, we have also been very excited to have the opportunity to return to St. Mark's CofE Junior School to deliver some face-to-face assemblies for the first time in over a year. Since October half-term, we have been going into school every few weeks to deliver the sort of crazy, thought-provoking assemblies that the students, and staff alike, have come to know and love. Our assemblies are so memorable that when we delivered our first advent assembly, some of the older pupils asked if Kevin the carrot would be returning – a reference to an assembly we delivered there two years ago! We look forward to providing more face-to-face assemblies for St. Mark's in the new year.