Despite somewhat inclement weather in the afternoon, we had a good day in Kidwells Park as we joined others as part of Maidenhead Festival.

We met up at 8am to set up the marquees and had a good location in the park, although, due to space issues, we were unfortunately only able to put up one of the marquees.

After completing setup in good time, we enjoyed some coffee and bacon rolls, courtesy of Lesley, before having a short time of prayer.

Like previous years, we had colouring and worksheets available for the children, but this year we also decided to try a new venture and spend some time telling children some of the stories from the Bible.

At 12pm, we had the first of three planned Bible stories during the day as Alan ran through David and Goliath.  This was followed by a quiz, based on the story and the children then learnt the chorus, Only a boy called David.  The children attending were all given goody bags, containing various invites to activities including the upcoming Holiday Club, a notebook, Parkside pen and a children’s activity tract.

Alan had also created a Splat the Cat game, using materials found in his father’s garage. This proved effective at engaging with passers by and drawing them in to hear the stories.

Phil told the second story – that of Jonah and the Big Fish.  This was again followed a quiz and a chance for the children to learn the chorus Come listen to my tale, of Jonah and the whale.

As we approached the time for our final story, the rain seemed to be getting increasingly heavy and numbers in the park seemed to be diminishing.  However, the rain ended up drawing people in to take shelter and the final story, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, was probably the best attended of all.

Overall, despite the rain, we were pleased with how the day seemed to go.  We had a good number of children in for the stories, while Lesley single-handedly gave out a large number of invites to Toddlers!  Numbers for the colouring were down on previous years so it may be worth considering focusing more on stories next year.

It was interesting to note that, despite the large number of stalls in the park, numbers attending the Festival overall seemed to be down on previous years.

Again, we’re thankful to the Lord for answers to prayer for the day.