Last weekend Joshua and I attended the Southwell Minster Christingle service and we had not only the pleasure of taking along my Mother in Law but also we got to meet the lovely Jane Foster from The Children’s Society. As part of my job role I get approached hundreds of times each Christmas to help raise awareness of charities during the festive period and this year I decided that I wanted to share with you all how the Christingle service that is probably happening just down the road from you can help vulnerable children local to you.
This festive season The Children’s Society has launched its #Christingle50 campaign – supporting vulnerable young people through raising funds at Christingle events across the UK to support the hundreds of thousands 10 to 17 year olds in the UK are experiencing emotional neglect and sometimes physical neglect or abuse on a regular basis.
Before last weekends service I had a chance to chat with Jane about how the money is used in our particular area and told me that there were several front line services here in Nottingham such as Safe Choices Nottinghamshire which is a specialist service providing support to children and young people who have experienced or are at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation. Working in collaboration with Nottinghamshire County Council and other partner agencies to promote prevention, early intervention and risk reduction around Child Sexual Exploitation.
There is also, Next Generation which is quite a new service, designed by young people, and for those aged between 11-18 years old from Nottingham City was. It is aimed at those who feel overwhelmed by the amount of information received from different practitioners such as school staff, youth workers, careers advice professionals and more.
Next Generation offers one professional voice that will help them access support, build on existing skills and achieve their goals.
Although The Children’s Society supports many different services around England its nice to know where the money might go, although all monies collected will be distributed across all services throughout the country.
Joshua sang his little heart out in the service at Southwell Minster and we heard more from Jane on how The Children’s Society helps those children that really need it. The Chaplin explained what a christingle stood for and got the children involved by asking them to write down what they are thankful for. Joshua was thankful for:
“Dear Lord, Thank you for making me, but best of all thank you for making the world. Amen”
We also got to hear some beautiful singing from a class at the local primary school.
It was so nice to be able to take some time out of our super busy timetable to be able to reflect and give thanks for all we have and it was epic to watch so many people stood in a giant circle round the Minster with their lit Christingle’s knowing they were all there supporting a charity and giving thanks too for what they had.
Thank you The Children’s Society for helping me reconnect with what’s really important this festive season!
*I have not been compensated for this post*
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