Before I came to live at Brettargh Holt as a volunteer I had already been coming to Brettargh for study weekends, organised by my sixth form college, and also young adult events organised by the project at Brettargh. My first real experience of Brettargh, and its amazing work, was at a young adults Easter retreat in 2009. It was the first time I had ever truly entered into Eater and the emotions involved. I knew from that retreat that a gap year at Brettargh was the thing for me.
I had had experience in youth work before, helping run the IMPACT (YCW) group in my parish and also been a catechist for the year 3 pupils taking part in the sacramental programme. I loved then working with young people and knew it was a definite career path for the future. Therefore an intensive year of youth work was a great and invaluable experience. The Time Out Project offered a great training programme for the whole team of volunteers before we started the retreat work. We looked at all situations and how to deal with them and also tips on now to engage young people and policies we my need to know while working at Brettargh. The training programme was run by Fr Bob Gardener an SDB from Savio house, Bollington, and we work closely with them during our induction period, socially and for training events. We also attended different conference through the year helping us develop as youth workers and also to network with different retreat centres around the country. In January we traveled to Swanick in Derby to be part of the volunteers conference, it was an amazing experience to meet and get to know other volunteers in youth work and look at how each retreat centre worked, and gain lots of new ideas. We also attended the CYMFed conference in London, which included amazing talks from Fr Glenn Murray (SJ) and David Wells. An inspirational day, meeting many people involved in catholic youth ministry.
My year at Brettargh will be one I will never forget, from working retreats with the team to socialising as whole community and having a laugh with the sisters. Living with the Salesian sisters has really added to my experience and really helped me, as a young catholic, understand and deepen my faith.
All the young people I have met throughout my year have been incredible, meeting young people from across the country, from all backgrounds and religions. A real highlight of this year has been seeing the transformation of the young people, as they step off the coach on the first day, nervous and not knowing what to expect, to the last day when they don’t want to leave and would chat to you like any other friend in the playground. I have also been very moved by the support of all the staff that have joined us on retreat from the different schools and the great relationships myself and the team have built up with them. They have shown great respect for our work.
Being part of the Salesian family is something, now, I couldn’t live without. The constant support from everyone at Brettargh and throughout the Salesian houses around the country. I have met so many amazing and talented people this year that I will stay in contact with and will be amazing support in the future. The Salesian family is so welcoming and everyone takes a real interest in you as a person. It is truly a family.
I would say to anyone not knowing what to do this year or wanted to go into any type of youth work in the future to look into Brettargh Holt and see if their gap year programme is for you. For me it was an invaluable experience, not all easy but one that has made me a stronger person and really developed my skills with people, young and old.
I thank every single young person and staff member I have worked with this year, as without them my year would not have been so special. I would also like to thank everyone here at Brettargh for an amazing year and to all in the Salesian family that have made me feel so welcome and for all the support and guidance they have offered.
