New Wine 2011 – 30-July to 5-August. Book at te best rates before 30 November.

Each year an increasing number of people from HTH attend one of the New Wine conferences in Shepton Mallet or Newark. These weeks of camping provide a chance to enjoy great teaching, ministry and worship – as well as an unhurried week to chill out with friends, get to know other faces from our congregation a little better and meet up with other friends from across the country. A member of the HTH congregation, who attended New Wine last year, writes…

Last year around 80 of us spent a week camping together at New Wine in Newark, and enjoyed probably the hottest week of the summer. We pitched our tents in a heat wave, in fact it was so hot that some of us sheltered under the trees for a couple of hours until it was cooler – the kids’ super soakers were most welcome!  It did rain later in the week…

Each church or group have their own pre-arranged area in which to camp. Our camp area ‘Red One’ was ably arranged by Jan Truswell (AKA ‘Red Leader’) around a central area containing a large gazebo and a play area with the volleyball net. This was a nice focal point, and many of us enjoyed a little shade (or shelter) there during the day, and we all gathered for a shared BBQ on one evening, and a cheese and wine party on another.

The main meeting place on site was an enormous barn-type structure which was the focal point each evening for celebration and teaching, it was also one of the venues for the morning, led by David White from Holy Trinity, St Austell. The other morning venue was led by Andy Hawthorne and team from The Message Trust in Manchester. There were also a number of smaller marquees offering an assortment of seminars during the day, and a craft venue where we could express ourselves artistically by silk painting, making baubles, creating mosaics etc. The youngsters had their own group sessions during the day, and judging by the excited chatter on their return to camp, they had a blast!

The best part of the whole week though was living as part of a community, enjoying one another’s company and getting to know people from HTH so much better than it is ever possible to do on a Sunday morning.  I’m on the list for next year – are you?