Celebrating twenty years of the Provincial Youth Week

St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh recently hosted a weekend of celebrations to mark twenty years of the Provincial Youth Week. This ever-popular summer camp for Scottish Episcopalian teenagers was held first at Strathallan School and latterly at Glenalmond College. Celebrations included a family fun day in the cathedral on Saturday 1 April, featuring a variety of much-loved Glen-style activities, including a labyrinth, a prayer tent, chainmail-making (pictured, with Youth Week Leader Revd Tembu Rongong), outdoor sports, supervised snoozing and the Winnie the Pooh Boot Camp. In the evening, over 100 delegates, former delegates, leaders and their families came together for an energetic celebration ceilidh and a delicious hog roast.

On Sunday, everyone joined the congregation of St Mary’s for their Sunday Eucharist. Bishop John presided, and welcomed everyone present to this Provincial event which Edinburgh was delighted to host. The service began with the ceremony of assembling the Glen cross – a free-standing wooden cross composed of seven smaller crosses, each of which represents a diocese in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Delegates from every diocese brought forward their cross, just as they do at the start of each Youth Week. Bishop Mark Strange, who formerly led the Provincial Youth Week, preached movingly about young people being the life of the Church. He ended by addressing the young people directly, on behalf of the Church: “Bless you: you are our treasure. And where our treasure is, there may our heart be also.”

Application forms for this year’s Youth Week at Glenalmond are available here.