New Assistant Warden

Miss Suzanne Galliers took over from Sarah Carroll as Assistant Warden from  April 2007.  Suzanne's background is in primary school teaching.  She has experience of working in a Christian outdoor centre and is very interested in craft activities: just the thing for St. Mark's, as we have opened our new Arts & Crafts and Environment Centre. 

Here is Suzanne's Spring Term 08 programme for RYPPERS, our local youth group:

23 January                                       Games & Chill Out in Abbey Barn

11/12 February                                Residential at St. Mark's

12 March                                          Crafts in the new Arts & Crafts Room (River Barn)

28-30 March                                     Small Groups Weekend at St. Mark's

 Gap Year Opportunity

St. Mark’s will have vacancies from August 2008 through to July 2009, or periods within those dates, for young people, typically on a gap year, to help with the household management and activity sessions with young people.

This is a good opportunity for young people to make a first step away from home, possibly before going on to university, or into full-time work, serving in a residential Christian centre, whose prime purpose is to work with young people.

Depending on skills and suitability, we can offer training in archery leadership, trampoline coaching, team-building exercises, alongside Basic Food Hygiene and Emergency First Aid.  There may also be opportunities to assist with the Christian content of the programmes of some visiting groups.

These are live-in posts, which provide accommodation and food and a pocket money allowance.  The accommodation is in comfortable single bedrooms, with a shared day room, with internet access and TV.

  Below is Becca Slee's account of her gap year with us a while ago.  If you think you might be interested in working at a Christian residential centre like ours, give us a call.

"Well here I am to tell you about life as a volunteer at St. Mark's. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a typical day here so I don’t have the luxury of presenting a ‘day in the life of…’ style account, however I will endeavour to do my best to give you an idea of what I do here.

There are lots of different types of groups who use the centre and the work that I am required to do changes with the coming of each group. Just as there is no such thing as a typical day at St. Mark's there is no such thing as a typical volunteer either! Having met some of the past volunteers, I have seen how different we all are, so don’t be fooled into thinking that you don’t have what it takes to work here! The way in which you help and serve the groups that come into the centre will depend entirely on your strengths.

Most of the visiting groups come from schools and church youth groups. Although we are involved in running activity sessions, we are also responsible for the well-being of the groups i.e. serving of food and the washing up that follows! Dishwasher skills are imperative at St. Mark's and although this will never be a fun job, it does provide the perfect opportunity to switch off and have a good natter with the rest of the staff team, who are all lovely…honest!!

We have many adult groups as well as those made up of young people, some of these are commercial groups, some church staff groups and in December most are Christmas dinner guests! Christmas is a very hectic time at St. Mark's as we literally serve hundreds of Christmas dinners to various groups from the local area. As a volunteer your involvement in Christmas dinners can be anything from a general waiting staff role to barmaid/man to chef! Last year, I surprised everyone including myself, by taking on some of the cooking responsibility for the Christmas meals with much success, proving once again that the role of a St. Mark's volunteer changes constantly!

One of the first groups I encountered were a returning school group who bring year 7 classes here in order to plan assemblies and do a bit of old fashioned class bonding! I found myself thrown in at the deep end a bit, as we introduced the kids to different theme in the Bible through drama and helped to run team building exercises. I also unwittingly became the resident dance ‘expert’ (small joke played on me by my loving colleagues!) - to say I was out of my depth would be a gross understatement, however I muddled through with scarily successful results!

Being a volunteer at St. Mark's allows you to gain new skills in other ways too. Before starting my year here, the thought of Archery and Trampolining conjured up images of Robin Hood and Blue Peter display teams respectively, however I am now a qualified archery instructor and am soon to be a trained as a trampoline coach too - although the Robin Hood association is still going strong! I have also had First Aid training and been on a food hygiene course.

So in summary - It's hard work, but very rewarding at the same time! If you're up for a challenge and lots of fun, do contact us to find out more!"

© 2008 The College of Saint Mark Trust

Registered Charity No. 1031174

E-Mail info@stmarkscollege.co.uk for more info

Artwork courtesy of Ah! Design