The Feast

We have now enjoyed nearly a full year of operation, with Natasha in Moseley and Golden Hillock Schools and Tim joining as Project Manager in February. Jenni served with us in a volunteer/gap year role, and is now on her summer holidays, including a trips to Paris and Pakistan, and running a Scripture Union camp.

The exciting development is that we have now secured our placements in Moseley and Golden Hillock Schools for the next schools year, and have added a new one, Broadway School in Aston. And even better, Jenni will be staying on with us as our second Schools Worker! We are so grateful to have two passionate and gifted ladies working with the young people in these schools and across local churches and mosques.

We are extremely grateful to have been able to work with these schools as we develop The Feast's strategy of bringing together Christian and Muslim young people. We are confident that our schools will benefit, as young people living separate, even parallel lives become friends and peacemakers in their communities.

Other highlights from recent months have been:

• We have completed our strategic planning and revamped branding, including a tagline to explain what The Feast does - exploring faith, creating friendships, changing lives.
• Over about 4 weeks we hosted a CYM student on placement, who worked with Natasha and her schools, as well as with the youth work of St Christopher's and SKATS at the Springfield Centre.
• For two weeks we hosted a year 10 work experience student alongside Natasha.
• Recently we met some of the leaders from Young Muslims UK which was very encouraging, and we are now looking at ways to work with them more in the future. This came after we had earlier done a presentation on Christian youth work and The Feast at Anderton Rd Mosque in Sparkhill, and received an excellent reception.

As for Christian-Muslim youth events this school term was quieter due to the higher academic demands on students, but here are some that have been run:

• On 17 April we launched a student leadership team around Natasha, called The Feast Team. The plan is the group will plan, promote and run events for their peers from September 2010.
• On 8 May we brought a group of Muslim students from Golden Hillock to meet with a group of Christian adults from Worcester & Malvern, to share a little of life and faith in Sparkhill.
• During early July we took stalls to the Balsall Heath Carnival and Golden Hillock Mela to promote The Feast, as well as giving out helium balloons and brochures at the Springfield Centre 10th birthday party day.
• On 18 July we have a girls GEMS event as well as entering a boys Feast team in a 6-a-side football tournament.
• On 23-25 July Smee will have his latest Lads Weekend camp.

Fundraising remains a huge priority for The Feast as we look to secure our work into the future. To those of you who already support us financially - THANK YOU! We greatly appreciate the generous gifts of individuals who chip in to help us along. If you don't presently give and would like go, awesome! Drop us a note and we will get in touch.

The Feast has the exciting feeling of building momentum, with more people knowing about us and interested in the work, better foundations in our participating schools, and lots more events planned bringing together Christian and Muslim young people. We look forward to our Summer break and then getting back into full swing in September.