So i set my alarm for 10am, thinking i would be awake long before….I woke at 10am when my alarm went off! Dragged myself out of bed at 10.30 with a headache. Showered, dressed, had some toast, hung my washing out etc whilst practicing being a chav and rehearsing my lines!

Rachel picked me up at 12.30 and we picked up Ollie and made our way over to Southend. Arrived about 1.15, met Den there. The church building had lots of rooms and the main hall was really lovely. We set up our table of literature, both Rachel and I have slight OCD over symmetry and leaflets being straight etc. I was shocked to discover that the change in the cash tin was i any old compartment, so separated it all out into it’s proper places! Had a cuppa and prayed as people started coming in.

(Ok maybe i should explain the event…It was basically all the yuoth and childrens workers from churches in the area and the point of the meeting was to equip and resource them for youth and children’s work.)

We found a room to rehearse while Ollie was running round with cables and testing mics and powerpoints. Got changed into my chav clothes and waited in the corridor for our moment! Den was speaking and his introduction for us was very long! The performance went well, although i was convinced I said a line wrong apparently I didn’t and it was all very good, hurrah!! Den continued speaking and we slipped in at the back after changing out of costume. Then there was a Q&A session and a chat about what Viz-A-Viz does. Then there was a tea break in which our table was flooded with people wanting literature and to buy the book and DVD at special offer rate of £5 for both! Rachel manned the cash tin and i did the writing down!

Then was the workshops; there were several on puppets, music, art, God’s play, Den did a discussion session and we did a Drama workshop. We had 10adults and started off with a warm up session and then made them come up with a story from the sentence ‘Boris was driving in his car when all of a sudden on his dashboard appeared…’ Very imaginative stories involving a wasp and being arrested, and a very surreal one with lots of doors and stairs that went nowhere…hmm…

Then the groups were given a Bible story to act out in a way of their choosing, we had the Good Samaritan, football field styley, and an amusing version of the Prodigal Son! Lastly we introduced a simple sketch called ‘Life, What’s it all about?’ involving one narrator and as many people as you like acting out the sketch. Its very effective! After the workshops we all went to have dinner together, under strict instructions not to sit with anyone you knew! I had interesting conversations with people about what i was doing, youth and childrens work in their churches, holidays and Comic Sans Font…thanks to Rob the Graphic Designer!

By the time we packed up and came home it was about 8pm and now i’m just in my room writing this!!

Very excited to see Lewis’s new car tomorrow (And Lewis of course!), woo day off!!!

Tags: Comic Sans, First Gig, Good Samaritan, Life, New Car, Prodigal Son, Southend, what's it all about?, Workshop