Bro. James Hayes - De La Mennais Brothers
The French Brothers who organised the varied activities (many of whom are good friends of mine thanks to 5 years I spent studying in France) made strenuous efforts to help us with the language barrier. Bro. Edmond and myself also translated wherever necessary. All those I spoke to were very impressed by the maturity shown by our pupils in the group discussions that they were involved in and by their willingness to not let the language barrier prevent them from getting fully involved.
De La Mennais Brothers Youth Gatherings (Yrs. 10-13)
Brittany, France April 2001 + May 2002
As well as being involved in teaching and school life the Brothers undertake various other activities outside of school that help young people to find their identity and develop spiritually. As we the Brothers in England are less numerous than our French counterparts, we try to allow some of our pupils to participate in events that they organise for young people in France. After the success of our participation in a Youth Gathering organised by French Brothers in St. Malo, Brittany in May, 2000, Bros. James and Edmond took a group of 6 pupils from Yrs. 10 and 11 to another gathering on the west coast of Brittany at the end of March, 2001. They were Greg Kelly, Kevin Murray, Ben North, Mark Sewell, Matthew White (all Yr. 11) and James North (Yr. 10)
Mid photo left to right - Kevin Murray (wearing cap), Mark Sewell, Matthew White.
One row back - Greg Kelly, James North, Bro. Edmund.
Land ahoy! - Mark Sewell + Greg Kelly before taking part in the sand sailing (see below)
Ben North and myself participated in the music group that helped lead the sing-a-longs, performing modern French (and English) Christian worship songs.
Four of the six that came with us in 2001 came again in 2002. It certainly is a great opportunity for the pupils to meet people their own age from a different culture, to think a bit more deeply about their faith (no matter what stage they may be at in their own spiritual development), to try out their French and to have a lot of fun.
The following year (2002) I returned with another group, this time mixing pupils from SFX with young adults from St. Austin's Parish, Aigburgh, Liverpool, where I work as a music minister with young people. The big difference this time was that many of those who wanted to come were musicians I worked with in either school or parish. When I told the French Brothers organising the event they suggested that we maybe lead a praise and worship session on the Saturday evening. We agreed and ended up providing about 45 minutes of modern Christian songs.
From right to left - Greg Kelly (bass), Ben North (electric guitar), me, Sophie (vocals), Mark Hughes (vocals).
From left to right - James North, a French friend, Andy Emmott, Joanne Brophy, Matthew White.
Greg Kelly (bass) + Paul Dahill (drums)
We seemed to go down well, but we all got a shock the next morning when Brother Olivier Migot who had been operating the mixing desk presented us all with cds of our performance. He'd recorded it on computer and done copies during the night, not just for each of us in the group but for each of the 50 or so participants at the weekend gathering. We became overnight celebrities with the French teens asking us for autographs on the cd booklets. The young people in our group were really made up.
Andy with some French groupies. Chris Banks + Jerome Hordern in the background
Breakfast at the Brothers' community in Landerneau before the drive to St. Malo to get the ferry
