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Hello! We hope you've had a cracking summer and are looking forward to the treats of Autumn and Harvest! This is what we've been up to over the last few months and the exciting things we're looking forward to... including some important dates for your diaries...  In this newsletter you will find... The next Youth Music Concert | Macc Half & 5K | Camas Trip 2017 | Plant Sale | Changing Chairs | NorthWest Charity Awards | Music Recordings | Road to Wigan Pier | and some great photos! Cre8's Music Concert Celebrates Local Talent Our most recent Concert on 22nd July at the United Reformed Church in Macclesfield town centre, saw performances from Cre8’s talented young musicians and showcased the achievements of young people involved with the highly acclaimed music project on the Moss Rose Estate.  Cre8’s music project established in 2011, enables young people from the Moss Rose Estate to develop music-making skills, where there may be limited opportunities for them to do so elsewhere. In 2017 this work has expanded to include the delivery of nationally recognised vocational qualifications in music. This concert was the opportunity for young people to show off their talents in music performance and they did not disappoint! The varied programme of pop, rock, grime, chilled acoustic and a bit of classical provided something for an audience of all ages and musical tastes. Young people played piano, guitar, bass, drums, ukulele as well as singing and rapping, with some highly technical performances. A comment from a member of the audience “What an honour and privilege to watch these young people perform. Their talent, their respect and love for their music and each other is inspiring... it was beautiful.” The development of the young people on their musical journeys was clear, with a special finale featuring a young person, who learnt to sing at Cre8 four years ago and has just received a special award following her first year at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. Tom, who oversees Cre8's Music project, said “The young people have been working for months on their performances and stage presence so to see that materialise in such a fantastic way on Saturday was very special. They work really hard in challenging circumstances and they certainly pulled it off tonight! As a team of music leaders we couldn’t be prouder of their achievements. It’s now time to look towards October, which will be a completely different experience for these young people, and such an honour to perform with a well-known choir.” Cre8 Music’s next concert on 14th October at St Michael’s Church in the Marketplace, will be a special fundraising evening in conjunction with the fantastic Laurence Singers based in Cheadle Hulme. This ticketed event is sure to be very popular featuring a lively programme from the choir and special joint performances with Cre8. What's been happening...
Camas Residential August 2017 
We took a large group of 16 young people aged 11-16 - some of whom have not been away from home before, to the Iona Community's Camas Centre - offering outdoor activities and community living on the Isle of Mull. The trip was incredible. Some challenges, lows and difficulties that come with living together away from home and having to learn to get along, and take part in everything - including the chores to keep the community running smoothly (like washing up and cleaning the loos). Some big highs as well; coasteering around the bay, sailing, swimming, bog-jumping and being in the spectacular Scottish wildness. Memorable moments included: a grumpy hike in defiant dressing gowns (perfect outerwear for a hike in Scotland!), being stopped on the road by large highland cows ("are they real?"), charging into the sea in pouring rain, to escape horrific midges, and sitting up till 2am trying to persuade angry young people to go to sleep instead of fighting. Thank you To the wonderful supporters of Cre8 who so generously donated just over £2,100 towards the cost of this year's Camas residential. You have helped 16 young people make memories and sow seeds of change that will last a lifetime. Many blessings x For regular updates and stories, follow us on social media and check out our website - it's awesome. facebook.com/Cre8Macclesfield @Cre8Macc www.cre8macclesfield.org Dates for your diary this Autumn...
We are especially grateful to all the kind people who publicise our upcoming events through their churches, groups, workplace, social media and family & friends. If you're able to - please do include the events listed above in any notices / displays / leaflets - and help us spread the word!
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 SUMMER YOUTH MUSIC CONCERT Saturday 22nd July at 6pm at The United Reformed Church (URC), Park Green Macclesfield Cre8 Music, now in its sixth year, with a third recommendation from the National Foundation for Youth Music, continues to challenge and inspire. A mix of modern songs, solos, duets, and bands, these young people will show you their journey from beginners to multi-talented musicians. Don’t miss out! The event will be FREE ENTRY for the audience as we want to attract as many people as possible, but we welcome donations as always. Please share with friends, family and please do publicise with our poster - downloadable here.
Supporting Cre8 through Prayer
We are always incredibly grateful for the many different ways people support Cre8. If you'd like to support our work through prayer, below are some prayer points to assist.
Last night we had a 'Camas Reunion' at Club! John and Abbie from Camas came down and joined us for the evening, and a few of the Cre8 leaders that went to Camas came along, as well as most of the young people who went on the trip. We looked at photos projected on the wall of Church and remembered all the things we did - kayaking, playing guitar, boat trips, king of the ring, food, and fishing. Lots and lots of good memories. We as leaders presented each young person with a framed photo collage of their time at Camas. Each young person came up, shook our hands and received a big round of applause from their peers. It was really important for us to give the young people something like this; a reminder of those great memories and shared experiences, and something to keep hold off. We always try and do this at our projects. And then we sat down and shared a 'Camas style' meal together. We had homemade sweet potato soup, homemade bread and homemade apple crumble and custard. All made that afternoon with help from some of the older young people that came with us to Camas this year (we have never peeled so many apples!) And then we did our chores - we washed up together. Thanks to Abbie and John for joining us for the evening, and to everyone who helped cook and prepare for the night. Good to remember and a great atmosphere - it felt just like it did in the summer at Camas. We are a group that has shared an experience together and that will stay with us :)  Getting ready for our last night. This afternoon our community are cooking a three course lamb dinner, decorating the rooms, planning a reflection and organizing games. Tonight we will have Capture the Flag and Mafia; there may be injuries. Meanwhile, Jonny and Rob have been painting stones #Cre8atcamas Iron Man awards ! Tonight we will have our Iron Man Award 2015 presentation at Camas, there are eight winners this year; 2 girls, 3 lads and 3 leaders. To win this prestigious hand-made award, young people and adults have experienced the pain and exhilaration of swimming in the sea at Camas, wearing only a swimming costume, before breakfast ie before 8am. This year, the sea was particularly refreshing, especially when it was raining and there was no water for a hot shower afterwards. Jonny introduced this year's competition after we arrived on Saturday with the immortal words "pain is temporary but glory is eternal". Amen !#Cre8atcamas Our Iona beach. A wonderful day, thank you for the sunshine#Cre8atcamas Sharing food. Everyone eats together at Camas; visitors, volunteers and staff. The anchor is rung, we gather upstairs and the meal is opened. We all share the same meal, cooked by one of the Camas volunteers or staff, sometimes with young people's help. Vegetables and fruit might come from the Camas garden, everything else is brought down the track in wheelbarrows, a thirty-five minute walk across the moor. Yesterday we ate the fish we caught. Hattie, a nineteen year old Camas volunteer, made amazing fish cakes with vegetables, followed by fruit crumble and custard, she cooked for thirty five of us. We think Hattie is a superstar : )#Cre8atcamas Beach ! Yesterday afternoon's walk to Market Bay. We played non-violent games including beach wrestling, sea football, grab onto the giant floating log in the sea, bury Matt in the sand and everyone jump on Tom.#Cre8atcamas Dolphins ! We've seen porpoises here before, but never Dolphins, they were HUGE. We saw them twice, once from the Camas boat and also later when John and Rob were out sailing. There was a pod of eight to ten animals, a mixture of what looked like adults, which were brown in colour, and younger animals swimming alongside. They looked to be darker in colour. We following the pod, they would turn towards the boat, come close and then turn away again. Aaron was keen to identify the dolphins and show us his discoveries in a book when we got back to Camas. He spent nearly an hour reading about Dolphins, quietly on his own. If you knew Aaron you would know how precious this is. Aaron 'doesn't read'. We didn't invite Aaron to come with us to Camas when he first started at Cre8 six years ago because we couldn't be sure that Aaron would do what he was asked to do, in other words we assessed him as being too high a risk, you could say dangerous. We never allowed Aaron to come with a group to Camas when he was a teenager. Now he's twenty and he's a young leader at Cre8. He's brilliant and it's been a joy to have him with us this week. Thanks Aaron, you've made us smile : ) #Cre8atcamas  It's not all fun and games. From the posts on here it might seem as though it is..... just fun and games, but it's not. There are things that happen here that shouldn't and sometimes we come close to arranging for someone to be sent home. Youth work is about dealing with the unwelcome things that come along, while keeping your eyes fixed clearly on the goal. Not the short term goal, but the thing that you are trying to create, maybe over months or years. The goal in Cre8's eyes is to live well in community, just as G_d commands us to do. To do this we know that we have to live in love and peace with each other, this is not always easy when you are living with sixteen teenagers four hundred miles from home. Teenagers nearly always have their own personal 'stuff' to deal with. It doesn't matter where they were born or what their life experience in childhood has been; teenagers all have 'stuff'. But in addition to this stuff, which gets in the way of being happy and getting on with growing up, many of the young people involved with Cre8 have other hurts. These can lead to anxieties and other symptoms which can make living together volatile and difficult. As leaders and volunteers, we try to keep everyone feeling ok. We do our best to keep the young people looking beyond their own individual selves, to look outside themselves and towards the needs of each other and of living together in a positive, supportive and loving community. This is not easy when squabbles (or worse) break out. This is when the going gets tough, when all our skills are called for and when we work together as a team; we have to, good teamwork is essential. Constantly, we put our efforts into 'being with' the young people; to encourage, celebrate, challenge, discipline and console them. Being quick to challenge them when they aren't 'good' with each other, and being quick to encourage and thank them at other times, when things are good and smiles are everywhere. Fun, laughter, helpfulness, kindness, consideration and compassion. Fun and games, not always, but more than sometimes.  |
Cre8 Macclesfield Ltd is a company limited by guarantee no. 07737871 and a registered charity number 1147150