In 1868, on holiday from London, Josiah Spiers had met a group of children playing on the beach at Llandudno on the north coast of Wales. He wrote a verse from the Bible in the sand with them and then told them a story about Jesus. The children were so enthralled with his story telling that they asked for more and more. Seeing the potential for teaching these children he went on to hold a beach service on the following Sunday which to his surprise attracted several hundred children and parents.
The following summer he held beach services in several places along with games and other activities, which enabled him to build relationships with the children. They remembered him for the way in which he not only taught but also demonstrated God's love for them. This was the forerunner of CSSM beach missions, [now known as "Scripture Union "].
In 1903 "Uncle" Harding Wood, a well known children's evangelist was sent to Criccieth, also in North Wales, to hold the first Children's Special Service Mission there.
This year we will be celebrating the Centenary of that mission at Criccieth with a special Beach service and the publication of a history of the Criccieth Beach Mission.
The holiday club, as it is now known, contains all the basic ingredients of beach missions, which have stood the test of time - lots of fun on and around the beach along with lots of opportunities to tell children and their families about the Gospel story. The children meet in their age groups for the bulk of the morning and then assemble, along with their parents, on the beach for a short evangelistic Beach Special. The afternoon is for fun and games and there are evening barbeques, and meetings for the teenagers. Parents too have their Bible study and prayer time in the morning while their children are in the groups.
As we celebrate this centenary we celebrate too the way in which the work of the gospel in Criccieth has not been restricted to a few weeks each summer. Over the past few years God has been at work in a wonderful way providing people to run groups throughout the year for children from each age group and has established the "Criccieth Family Church" and "Roots" - a Christian bookshop, coffee bar and Internet café on the High Street.
This August the Holiday club needs a number of people to fill gaps in the team so if you are free from August 4th to 15th and can fill one of the following gaps please contact Mary or Paul Blake.
We need:
Planning for the Holiday Club is well under way and we meet for a weekend of training at the end of June.
Team accommodation is in The Neptune - a large seafront house that God provided for the team a few years ago. That's another exciting story that you can read about in "Sand Pulpits and Banners A Centenary History of the Criccieth Beach Mission" which will be published in July.
Mary Blake