"Be joyful always; pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians
5 v 16-18
Happy Birthday, Emmaus!
On Monday 14th July 2008, Hilperton School hall was packed with parents, grandparents, pupils, teachers and friends to celebrate not only the end of another school year but to give thanks for the 10 years since Emmaus was born!
Emmaus School Hall would have been woefully inadequate for such an occasion, so Hilperton kindly allowed us to use theirs for this wonderfully uplifting, but also moving occasion.
The End of Year Service
As is now traditional, services at Emmaus have no master of ceremonies - all those taking part know their responsibilities and for 80 minutes it flowed seamlessly. then it all came to a shuddering halt as Mrs Wiltshire suddenly realised that she was no longer in control - and believe me, Mrs Wiltshire likes to be in control.
The
choir sang a number of songs including "Great indeed are you Works", "O Lord
and Great is thy Faithfulness", the infants sang "Rejoice in the Lord"
and everyone joined in for "Beloved and Blessed", "The Lord's my Shepherd"
and "Lord for the years".
Passages of Scripture were read by Kevin Wiltshire (Chair of Governors), Dr
Robert Oliver (one of those who first prayed for a Christian School 30 years
ago) and Miriam Wiltshire (Head teacher).
Another of the Governors, Clive Richards, was moved to tears as he read the account of the school's inception and growth from the Christian Focus Publications book "The Love of God in the Classroom".
Presentations
After the formal service was completed, there were a number of pupils who were leaving, some to go to the States, some to go on to further education and others to different schools. It was a time of high emotion, but also of great fun as poems were read out describing the antics of Ashley and Chloe, both of whom have just finished their GCSE's.
Paul Oliver presented certificates to those children who had passed their Bikability test (Bikability is what used to be called Cycling Proficiency). Paul shared the terror he feels when taking other peoples children out on the roads of Trowbridge for the first time.
Stuart Moore presented certificates to those children that had done so well in the tag rugby and kwik cricket competitions that they had entered with other schools. It was easy to see which pupils really love their sport.
In
a way, the high point of the evening was to see presentations made to Miss Naomi
Oliver and Mrs Wiltshire, the two founding teachers of the school. Secretly over
the past few months, parents had been contributing stories, pictures and
comments and these were put in to 2 books, one for each of the teachers. They
were also given stunning paintings depicting the school building, painted by one
of the parents, Mrs Midgley, not to mention bunches of flowers. Mrs Janet
Mumford a great aunt to some of the pupils, did an ink drawing of the school
that will hang in the school hall as a commemoration of the event.
Miss Oliver was rendered almost speechless by the occasion, but not Mrs Wiltshire who professed that the last 10 years had been the happiest teaching years of her life.
A large birthday cake emblazoned with the lovely Emmaus logo was then brought to the front and the candles were blown out by Jo Cazzulini and Georgie Wells, two former pupils.
The
evening came to an end with refreshments back at Emmaus itself, including pieces
of the wonderful birthday cake (unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to get a
photo of it before it was cut up!) There were displays of the children's work,
pictures from the Three Peaks jaunt as well as pictures from the early days of
the school when the building was in dire need of some TLC. There was a wonderful
buzz about the whole evening and sincere thanks go to everyone who was involved
in any way in making it such a success.