what is the blog?

The team realised that we'd given you lots of flyers about the blog, but didn't explain what it was!

It's the website for Area 51 and all the young peeps at Festival. The team post here through the year, letting you know whats going on, anything relevant and anything we think you might be interested in, as well as random things that pop into our heads!

We post when we can, sometimes more than others!

If you would like to contribute something there are 2 ways. You can leave a comment on a post, or if you fancy you could write your own post and e-mail it to festivalyouthteam@hotmail.com and we'll add it to the blog! You could send...

- what you thought of the festival
- what you got up to at the Festival
- share some testimony of what God did in your life at Festival
- let us know anything interesting your youth group's getting up too!
- send us any photo's that you'd like to put up
- any websites that you think we should list

So get e-mailing coz we'd love to hear from you!

turtle power!

we're home!

Everyone home now?

What were the highlights of the festival for you?

Youthteam loved...

*my spoon unplugged in area 51!
*meeting lots of you again and some for the first time.
*ninja turtle power
*listening to God with you peeps
*knowing that everyone on site was looking for our gnome!
*westy's zone's beatboxers and craig's zone's rappers - awesome!
*scoobee-mania
*sleeping in a building rather than a tent! sorry all you campers...

so what did you like??

we're here and the sun's shining!

Well some of the youthteam has landed at Cliff and we're busy setting up! The sun is shining and we're feeling good! See you at 2pm tomorrow for the drop-in.

weather update!

We're pleased to say the sun has been shining all day here at College and the fields are better than we'd dared to hope they would be! So, basically, you'll be pleased to know you're not coming to a swamp tomorrow! However, you may still want to be cautious and pack the wellies and waterproofs as a bit of rain has been forcast.

Can't wait to see you there!

meet noah...

Noah, Noah-the-Gnome, is packed and ready for Festival 06. He's a recent meber of the youthteam and has been giving us all some make-up tips (check out the lippy!). His hobbies include fishing, sky-diving and foreign travel. In the past he has worked as a undercover spy and been sent to dangerous places like 'Granny's Garden' (GG for short). He hates the stereotype that Gnomes have of being lazy good-for-nothings who sit around all day. Noah also does alot of work for charity and has set up a rehab programme for Gnome-nappers.

Noah's going to be hanging around onsite and if you are one of the lucky people to spot Noah, you need to get him to Area 51 (the youth venue) asap and claim your prize! So make sure you are on the look-out when you arrive!

See you there!

meet the team!

Meet Sam and Nick. Some lovely peeps from Reading who are new to Cliff this year (so be gentle with them!)...



We got married on April 8th this year! And it was the happiest day of our lives! We met whilst working for HMV on Oxford Street in the summer of 2001.

Nick Hook:

Aston Villa Fan

Loves Football & Cricket.

Also Loves Music: Fav's include: Puressence, Interpol, Bell X1, Depeche Mode, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Jeff Buckley, Kent, Damien Rice, Kasabian, The Killers, Muse, Placebo, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, The Sundays, The Wannadies, Manics, The Stills, Rufus Wainwright, The Cardigans, The Cure, Garbage, Sneaker Pimps to name just a few!

Fav Food: Italian

TV: Lost & 24

Film: Spinal Tap

Samantha Hook:

Teacher of Drama & Dance (secondary & sixth form)

Fav Music: Counting Crows, Jack Johnson, Puressence, Damien Rice, Joni Mitchell, Eddi Reader, Matchbox 20, Paul Weller, Pete Yorn, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Jewel, Alanis Morissette, Brendon Benson to name just a few!

Fav Food: Chocolate!

TV: Lost, 24, Dawsons Creek, Big Brother.

Film: 10 Things I Hate About You

welly warning!

Calling all you campers... you may want to pack some wellies for this year's Festival. It's been raining like Noah's Ark here at Cliff and the fields are looking a bit on the soggy side!

We're not ones to be put off by a bit of water, so pack the funky wellies and bring it on! Waterslide anyone?

meet the team!

Yeh! Renie's back again this year at la festivale! She's a cool chick (prob all those discount monsoon clothes!) with a weak spot for trashy tv, but a big heart 4 God...



Name: Renie Gray

Job: Monsoon Head Office London

Favourite food:Chocs, crisps,sweets and lots of other healthy food

Favourite Film: Point Break (Bank Robber Surfers with a Passion)

One of my favourite Bible Bits: Hebrew 12 "Running the race with perservance, forgetting all that is behind and pushing forward to win the prize Christ has called us to"

If I could Go Anywhere: Bondi Beach for surfing lessons, Whistlers for snowboarding lessons, New York Soho to shop (no lessons necessary), Ibiza to dance, A nice pub with a fire to chill & write my journal in..

Most Embrassing Moment: Tend to have one everyday, just watch me and you'll see what i mean

Favourite TV show: Sad but true....I loved "Celebrity Love Island" last year & Ship
Wrecked 2006, but I'll be cool and add in Lost, The Apprentice, Eastenders, Hollyoaks, T4 and to be totally honest I'll no doubt get sucked into Big Brother in a couple of weeks time. Getting a theme of Trash TV anyone??

One of my Biggest Influences: Cheesy but true...My Mum is an inspiration to me, she lives each day with a passion for God and for other people, she spends her entire life using all the many gifts and talents that God has blessed her with to serve others.

meet the team!

Meet Jason, currently a Cliff College student. He'll be able to tell you all you need to know about what student life is like when you're 24/7 at Cliff! Check out the photo (eeek!)...

Profile: I am 40 yrs old have two children Jack and Mollie, my wife's name is Helen and we come from Southampton where I was a window cleaner for 10 yrs.

I came to the Lord in 1998 after a bad sort of background.

Helen and myself are looking to move on to a Council Estate back in Southampton and work for the Lord there.

This is after I finish at Cliff which will be the summer of next year, one more year to go.

This is me before the op...

.

detached team

detached team

The detached team– Eva, Marc, Heather, Darren, Gaz, and Moses will be around the site all day every day, so we hope that you will soon get to know them. They will be organising the afternoon activities and also be around in the Chill Out tent…

chill out tent

The Chill Out Tent opens at 11.00 pm every night (after LNE). You will find it on the camp site at the Broadbelt/Eagles end. Come to chill, eat, watch, play games and chat. It is a great atmosphere and we look forward to see you there.

Here are a few photos from the Chill Out Tent last year...

afternoon sports

Afternoon Activities

This year’s afternoons are looking really exciting. Make sure that you don’t miss out!

Volleyball Competition- Saturday afternoon

You will find this just before you get to Broadbelt/Eagles. (Follow the signs!) There will be notices and a sign up sheet in the reception area.







Football Competition– Monday afternoon

For those of you who love football (and you should, with the World Cup around the corner), we are going to organise a Football Competition in the football ground (you will find it at the end of the camp site, close to the road. Follow the signs and the crowds!) Again, do not forget to sign up!



Rounders - Sunday afternoon

Last year, this game was very popular and by great demand we are going to play it this year. Again, the place would be the Football grounds and you must sign up!

dance workshops

Dance Workshops– Saturday & Sunday afternoons

For all those of you who love a workout and dancing, our very own Darren Middleton, a professional dancer and dance instructor will be leading you through this time. The workshops are going to happen on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, in the old library in the Main building (follow signs!). There will be a limit of twenty people per class, so you will need to sign up fairly quickly. There will be a sign up list at the reception and you can sign up from the moment you arrive on site.

Don’t miss out on such an opportunity!

getting excited now!!

Beware of the weather!

It seems like it is going to rain for the rest of the week. Keep praying that we have wonderful weather for the Festival weekend…..If it continues to rain, we will have the chill out tent open in the mornings and/or afternoons where there will be indoor games to play…..But, let’s pray for sunny weather!


Are you the Cliff College Renegade?

This is the question that you must ask anybody and everybody around the site. Everyday, somebody (The Cliff College Renegate), will be going around the site, and you should try and find them, and the bounty (prize) will be yours.

There will be a different prize each day for the person that finds the Cliff College renegade!

how are you coming?

And we don't mean car or campervan! We mean what are your expectations about God this year? How do you feel? Are you coming feeling like the last time you really hooked up with Jesus was last year's festival and there hasn't really been much mail between you since?

Or maybe your coming with stuff on your plate, you're busy: exams, girl/boyfriend, family, school?

Maybe you've got a question on your heart for God. What options? What college? What shall I do about x,y or z?

Or maybe you're coming feeling well up for it, you and Jesus are sorted and this is another opportunity to get closer.

Well, I expect you think the last one is the right one. It definately looks the most sorted one. But we on the youthteam reckon that they all are ok. However you come - not really to the Festival, but to Jesus - the point is that YOU COME.

God's not worried about where you've come from, he's worried about where you're going.

So, what about taking some time out this week. Not hours, but maybe just 10mins and saying to Jesus that you want to get closer to him, not just for a weekend festival, but for life.

meet the team!

Well, not long to go now! I can tell you that the youthteam are well excited about seeing you all on friday! Not to mention panicking about all the prep we still need to do! How are you lot feeling? What are you most looking forward too??

Here's a bit more info on the team...

Some of you might remember Tom from last year. There was a lot of debate about how old he was! No-one would believe he was just in year 10. Well, he's year 11 now so watch out! You can see him here with the band on bongos...



Name : Tom Penn

Occupation : Student (apparantly...i sleep lots and work little, so must be right)

Hobbies : Acting (messing around pretending to be other people), drumming (hitting things with sticks), singing (warbling), football (running around a field for 90 mins trying to kick a pig's bladder), art (making a mess) and photography (clicky-whirring thingy)

Favourite film : The Lion King

Favourite people : My family, my friends, my God

Interesting fact : I'm scared of feet

***********************************************
Now who could forget Craig: beat-boxer, fatrunner and all-round groovy guy...



Name: Craig Young (AKA Cruci!!!)

Fav food: kao phad gai (mainly cos it's funny when you say it in a Thai accent!)

Fav colour: Blue

Fav things: Reading FC, Writing a heavy lyric, Westy's beats!

Most recently bought cd: Sway - This is my demo.

Fav TV thing: Beauty and the Geek.

Fav film: Teenwolf. There is no other film worth watching!

Fav Quote: "I've got a talent in my pants" - Chris West 2004.

******************************************************
And finally for now, Matt Finch: crazy hair = crazy guy...



name- Matt Finch

job- Methodist Minister- working with lots of old ladies!

favourite food- dark chocolate

if you could go anywhere in the world where would it be- A little place in
India called Darjeeling its in foothills of Everest

favourite tv show- Spooks- its the best program ever

film that you think everyone should watch- The Lord of the Rings- they are
just fantastic and inspiring

if you could take 3 things onto a desert island what would it be? My laptop,
a really comfy bed and book about gardening!

who would you most like to throw a custard pie at? Anybody who plays for
Ipswich Town FC

who's the biggest influence on your life? An old man called Denny Driver, he
used to pray for me and talk with me about God and life. If I hadn't met him
I might not be a Christian today.

who would you most like to have dinner with? This is really boring but two
really amazing theologians/writers, Dietrich Bohoeffer and Leslie Newbigin

what's your biggest disappointment? Alton Towers

most embarassing moment? I turned up to do a funeral and I had forgotten my
suit. I had to borrow sombody elses and it was about five sizes to big. I
had to keep pulling up the trousers because they were falling down and I
looked a right wolly!

interesting fact: Elephants can't jump

if you could invite one person to the festival, who would it be? Yaz, my
wife

meet the team!

This is Gem from Reading, recently married to Chris and loving it...



name: mrs g j west

fav food: fajitas

fav colour: green

fav things: my husband, jesus and shoes

most recently bought cd: embrace (love it)

fav TV thing: LOST

fav film: for giggles-mr deeds, for love-the notebook

fav ice lolly: FAB!

that's it!
one love

meet the team!

Meet Kimi from Norfolk...



Hi, I’m Kimi.

I’m a student at UEA in Norwich studying Occupational Therapy. Which I’m loving and the first year has gone way too quick. Enjoying student life too much!

I love dancing; my dancing society at uni performs at the club nights on campus a lot to songs like All That Jazz to Gwen Stefani. I’ve also done Irish dancing since I was 6 and helped run the best dance group in the world at my church back home that is the amazing Ely.

I have quite random taste in music, I like my oldies like Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin and then I like Alanis Morrisette and Jamiroquai and my Irish folk of course.

And meet Chris from Reading...



-Chris West aka Westy

-Full time student/youth worker

-Never been kissed

-World record holder for 'most amount of people
beatboxing at the same time'

-6ft tall with great legs

-Best friends are Gem and Jesus

-Love being married and laughing at my wife being
silly all the time

Thats it I think!

bishop in hoodie

It's great when you hear about a vicar/minister/church leader getting it right for once and that's why I was so pleased to hear about Bishop John Sentamu wearing a hoodie as a sign of solidarity with hoodie-wearing young people who have been stereotyped by the media. In a bid to stand up for young people he said that,

"Ninety-nine per cent of those who wear hoodies are law-abiding citizens."

And he went on to say,

"We have a lot to learn from young people as well as much responsibility for them."

Often the world judges us by how we look, sadly the church sometimes does too. What I think Bishop John is trying to convey to us is the truth that Jesus does not look at what we are wearing, but at what we are like inside.

Rock on Bish. Read more of the story here.

meet the team!

Well, we're hoping that over the next couple of weeks we'll be able to introduce you to some, if not all, of the youthteam that will be at festival 06. Now, we may not be rich or famous, but we're well up for making this year's festival one that will go down in memory. Imagine the reunions in 20 years time, when you get together and say, "ooo... do you remember that year at cliff college festival... you know the one that *insert memory* (the sheep ate the tents/the marquee blew away/we stayed up all night singing in a field etc). So we thought we'd introduce you to some of the team who are going to be catering for your every need!

Meet Yaz Finch - ex-cliff student; was at festival 05; co-leads the youthteam with Matt.



I'm married to Matt and I don’t have any kids, pets, farm animals or infectious diseases.

We live in Norfolk where there are a lot of vegetables and not many nightclubs (but plenty of illegal raves).

I am a full time student at Sheffield Uni and am meant to be working on a PhD. PhD does NOT stand for Polishing, Hoovering and Dusting.

I also work as an artist and paint abstract modern art. The dining room is currently my studio and I hope our landlord doesn’t notice all the spilt paint.

My favourite food is currently avocado mixed in a blender with soya milk, frozen fruit and a bit of honey. YUM.

If I could live anywhere I would move to a sleepy little town called Soriano, in Italy. We go there every winter on holiday and the locals can’t understand why we like it so much!

3 weeks to go!

Well folks it's only 3 weeks to go until we squeeze in the overloaded cars and head on over to Cliff College for another year's festival! The youthteam are working away 24/7 (well, nearly...) to make it another great year.

This year we have a few new faces and a few new things to add to the programme. One thing some of you may be excited to hear is that we have a new team member, Kimi, a uni student at Norwich, who is a great dancer and has run a dance group for a couple of years and will be running some workshops for all you keen dancers



Another big source of excitement in the youthteam is that on night 1 we will be having the one and only My Spoon as a guest band to lead our worship! Woo whoo! And we have managed to talk them into doing a special 'up-close-with-my-spoon' zone to take some questions and get to know you a bit better. So, if you're interested in that make sure you're there early on night 1 and get signed up!