Youth Church (SMYC) (formerly Breakfast Club)
Youth Church (temporarily suspended)
Youth Church is for young people aged 11-15 at St Michael's. We meet on alternate Sunday mornings in term time during Mass for prayers, readings and activities appropriate to the age group. We also get together at some other times for film nights, quizzes, lunch and other fun things, and an end of year Houseparty weekend away.
Please watch our film, 'Wisdom'
Dates for 2015 (temporarily suspended)
Check out the SMYC Facebook page for dates of sessions this term and details of other fun activities taking place.
Also view photos and videos of past events.
We gather in the north aisle at the start of the 10am Sunday service and go out in the first hymn, as Children's Church do. For further information please contact Ian Flatman via the Parish Office .
PAST EVENTS
Sponsored Walk to Westminster Abbey - Sunday March 24th 2013
On Palm Sunday, the teenagers and youth of St Michael's and All Saints, Fulham, did a sponsored walk along the Thames all the way to Westminster Abbey - just under 9 miles! We set off after the Parish Mass at 11.30, and once there, we had a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Abbey. The funds raised by the group from St Michael's were split between the Organ & Parish Rooms Appeal and the Youth Church. See pictures on Facebook page (see above for link)
Thanks to everyone who supported the walkers with sponsorship
Summer 'Get together' - July 2012
Oliver Simkin writes about the Youth Church’s trip to St Michaels Church in Bishop’s Stortford on the weekend of 21st July 2012.
Max Thomas, Hannah and Tom Drake, Father Stephen, Ian Flatman and I met at Turnham Green tube station and from there went on to Tottenham Hale where we caught the over-ground to Bishop’s Stortford.
When we arrived we walked to the church which we could see from the station.
We dropped our bags off and were introduced to the members of their youth group who would be joining us as well as their priest, Father Anthony. Once we had settled in we walked back down to the station and caught the train to the Lea Valley for a bicycle ride. We rented bikes and rode alongside the canal until we came to where the Olympics rowing and rafting events were to take place and had a lovely picnic there.
We rode back and, after handing the bikes over, we took a pedalo out onto the canal which was great fun.
We took the train back and spent the evening playing games in the church and watching a film called ‘Mean Girls’ before going to bed - in the side chapel in the church! We woke up early the following morning and had to move to the youth centre as there was an early Mass in the church. We had a delicious breakfast that consisted of bacon sandwiches, sausage sandwiches and cereal, before attending the main service where Father Stephen was guest preacher. The service was quite different to ours in a number of ways. For some of the congregation [children] it was their first communion which means that even though they haven’t been confirmed they can still take communion. Also, the serving team was much smaller than ours and Fr. Stephen preached from the pulpit.
After the service we made a packed lunch and walked to a nearby bowling alley. After playing two games we had a water fight back at the church which was great fun. By this time it was about 3 o’ clock and unfortunately we had to leave. We packed our bags and said goodbye to everybody. Before we left however, very excitingly, Father Anthony said that they would very much like to repeat the trip by coming to visit us in Chiswick and seeing our church. I think that that was an excellent idea and I would love it to happen.
Thank you very much to Father Anthony and Father Stephen for organising this trip, I am sure that everyone from both churches loved every minute of it
Youth Church Stations of the Cross - Lent 2012
As part of Lent 2012, St Michael’s Youth Church created their own series of Stations of the Cross with the help of Sarah Lenton and Kelvin Murray. They are simple but powerful in their approach and there is something particularly poignant about seeing teenagers we know in the place of Christ and all the other characters of the Passion story. Having created and mounted our images, they wrote some prayers and reflections based on them, and we held a service of Stations of the Cross on the Monday of Holy Week. As I write, the images are still up in church and will probably remain in place until the end of Eastertide. My thanks to everyone who has been involved with this fantastic project, not least the teenagers themselves who have created a wonderful set of images. Some of the images below give you a flavour.
1st Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death
Pilate took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’ Matt 27.24
4th Station: Jesus Meets His Mother
‘When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ John 19.26
10th Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Clothes
‘They took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his shirt’ John 19.23
Houseparty weekend away - 16th-17th July 2011
A group of 8 young people from St Michael & All Angels went away to Chichester for the weekend. We stayed in the hall at St George’s Whyke, and met Fr Stuart Cradduck the Rector of St George’s, who organised lots of activities for us.
We left early on the Saturday morning and getting by train to Chichester we got to St George’s in time for lunch. Then we headed straight out to the river and had a fantastic time canoeing and kayaking – as you can see from the photos we got extremely wet not only from the rain above but also playing games in the river below! After going back and warming up for a bit we then headed down to the beach in the evening for a barbecue and a game of football on the sand.
Later that evening we had hot chocolate and games, before finishing off the day with prayers in the church.
In the morning we had a delicious cooked breakfast before joining the congregation for Mass. After lunch, we went out for a walk in some of the beautiful countryside landscape of woodlands, fields and hills. It was a really great change from London.
We got a lot into the weekend, and it was a good finale for the year and a way to say goodbye to our two leaders – Jonny Hall and Frances Denniss who have helped for many years, and been so excellent at it. Johnny has moved to Cambridge and Frances will actually be living in Chichester as she continues her training as a doctor. We will miss them, and we bought them some presents and a card to thank them for all that they have done.
A very unexpected thing happened
on our holiday - by Oliver Simkin
In the first week of the Easter holidays 2011, I went to Rome with my mum and dad. A very interesting part of the trip was that we got to see the Pope.
We went to visit the Vatican and there was a massive queue to get into St. Peter’s Square which was very crowded and noisy. We realised that so many people were there because it was Wednesday morning when the Pope holds a “papal audience” inside the Audiences Hall of Paul VI, on the south side of the Square. We were lucky because the day we were there it was being held outside in the Square itself.
A few minutes later I spotted the glass roof of a sort of car - it was the Pope-mobile. 
I rushed to the barrier to get a better view and suddenly there he was, right in front of me, waving to the crowd. I was able to take a few photos (above, right) before he disappeared again.
He then sat in a very grand chair on a podium on the steps of the Basilica and preached a sermon in Italian (we couldn’t understand it!) and then some of his Cardinals read Lessons in various languages, including English.
It was a very unexpected thing to happen on our holiday.