Shall we Sing a Song for you?

Firstly, no Spirit of the Puritans report this year but if you want a report see here. The first of the audio is on SermonAudio.

And here are the Camp Reunion talks by Gareth Burke on on The Scars of the Christian Life:

1. Friday Evening (lower quality as it was recorded from the back of the room on my phone! Starts a minute or two in)
2. Saturday Morning
3. Saturday Evening

Anyway, in terms of a report: as Mark Driscoll says, if it wasn’t all about numbers, there wouldn’t be a book in the Bible called ‘Numbers’, so the key stats are that there were 99 campers, not including committee or cooks (Frances’ last ever reunion). After the Burksters first talk on the Friday night, we of course had burgers, pleas for buns and tea towels, and Offy’s famous quiz. Sweeping up both first place and Offy’s prize for his favourite team name (although it was actually given to someone else so as not to offend the Sealanders) were a team whose name was loosely along the lines of ‘Clap your hands if you love [a certain congregation]‘ (with raucous applause every time).

We love them really

Well, just PMO tbh!

On the Saturday we had the second talk, discussion groups, Ballyclabber sport/shopping in Coleraine, tea and the third talk. Then it was time for Brian and Lynda’s Saturday Night Take-Away, which now must have attained tradition status, having occured two years in a row. The team names in general were even more woeful than the night before, but my personal favourite was ‘No Loughridges, No Loss’.

On the Sabbath, in one of the greatest decisions taken by the camp authorities in recent times, we went to church in Limavady. You could just feel the anguish of our Belfast friends as they thought of having to drive *all that way* home. After lunch, by popular demand, John gave the vote of thanks, and he didn’t disappoint. Then Strob lead us in a tune psalm sing, and it was time to hit the road.

So in short I had better things to do than take photos, so here are a few from Ali G!

General Bant

James tells the lads how it’s done, while Conor shields himself from the paparazzi

Reports from years where I put more effort into the reports!:

2008
2007
2006

(Now with photos!) Some of which include the ball as they were taken by Andy Lynch!

[Camp Reunion report and talks hopefully coming in next 24 hours!]

News: Vatican tries to copy the Jonny McCollum cup with The Clericus Cup, between priests and trainee clergy.

by Philip Dunwoody

RENWICK ON TOP OF THE WORLD WITH 5-2 VICTORY; DERRY SURVIVE STAFF SIEGE TO SET UP SHOWDOWN

Renwick 5 – 2 World XI
Derry 3 – 2 Bar Staff

Renwick recorded their first win of 2009 with victory over World XI this week, in what turned out to be a fairly dismal spectacle at Ozone. Considering this was the first league run-out for the team since 10th December, it was always going to be a tough game, and, in the end, the RPs were happy to leave the field with a win, although we perhaps could have scored a few more against the team who were silly enough to take our cursed Brazil kit! With only three games to go and the team still level on points with Derry City Supporters at the top of the table, goal difference could become a factor in the weeks to come.

The team was hit with a few last minute withdrawals – Andy Lynch failed a late fitness test, and with the…ahem…cricket season round the corner, he may not feature much in the league run-in. “Skills” Buchanan was also absent, and Dr Andy McKelvey, contrary to Jonny McCollum’s rumour-spreading that the Ballymena man was tweaking his beard, was in fact in surgery. The subsequent reshuffle resulted in Sean and Gavin in midfield, and Steelo out on the left wing. Dave Smith partnered Steve at the back.

The game started at a fairly chaotic tempo, with World XI, led by former Renwick squad man Barry McAuley, enthusiastic in the tackle but not providing much threat upfront. Renwick, characteristically, were a little slow to start, and it took an early goal from XI to wake us up. A World XI midfielder received a pass 35 yards out, and hit a hopeful shot which….squeezed between Jonny’s legs. That’s about as well as we can make it sound! The joy of the league’s second-from-bottom placed team lasted all of 30 seconds however. From the restart, Andy Mo played a great ball down the wing to Phil, who hit an early low cross to AJ at the near post, and he poked in his thirteenth goal of another prolific season in a Renwick shirt. Andy Mo was again involved in the build-up for our second, with a clearance/dream pass over the top to Johnston again, who placed it beyond the keeper to put us in front. The rest of the half was a fairly scrappy affair: Dave and Steve marshalled the defence well, and Andy and Ben played superbly at full back. Gavin was tackling anything that moved in midfield – legally or illegally! – and Mark and AJ always looked a threat upfront. Despite going close on a few occasions, and with Dave Smith heading against the bar from a corner, we didn’t add to our lead before half time.

World XI had plenty of supporters and hooligans on the sidelines – another ex-Renwick player, Matthew Curry, amongst them – and their constant babbling about anything other than the match at hand perhaps distracted us from our game at times. Certainly at the break the feeling in the Renwick camp was that we could take things up a gear or two.

We took it to them a bit more in the second half, having switched Steve and Sean to give the Boghill man a run in the middle, and AJ and Mark began linking better upfront and putting the defence under more pressure. Mark grabbed his first and our third about ten minutes into the half – Phil swung in a corner that XI didn’t deal with, and Mark eventually produced a great strike into the bottom corner. Even at that point, you felt it was the pivotal goal. Nonetheless, we contrived to concede a second with fifteen or twenty minutes left, when some poor marking all over the pitch led to a World midfielder squeezing through our centre backs and providing a good finish beyond Jonny to breathe some life into the game. World XI failed to build on it however, and for the rest of the half Renwick were basically camped in and around their box. Despite some fairly shocking refereeing decisions we had any number of corners, and AJ, Steve, Mark and Dave all had shots from distance that either sailed wide or their keeper dealt with. With ten minutes to go a pass was lobbed into the bottom corner for Mark to chase, and he gathered it well to cross for a simple close-range goal for AJ to complete yet another hat-trick. A few minutes later we confirmed the win, when Phil swung in a corner from the left, returned the clearance into the box, and Dave Smith drove it home for another rare goal. We wanted some more goals, aware of the need to close on Derry, but none came. Nevertheless, it was nice to score late on, and showed we were working hard for all ninety minutes. On the pitch across from us, Derry scored a near last-minute winner against Bar Staff for a 3-2 victory. We’re still equal on points, but the Maiden City men have scored three more and conceded three less than us in the league.

So, the big one next week! Any fans, readers, former players, ringers and haters who want to be involved come along for what could prove to be the league decider, although Renwick have two tricky games after Derry as well. Old rivals Derryvolgie will want revenge for our 6-5 win pre-season, and Donegal Rangers seem to have turned their season around to climb to fourth, six points behind us. Neither will be an easy game, but a win against Derry would certainly provide plenty of motivation to produce. Watch this space, as Renwick’s league season draws to a close with everything still to play for…

Team (4-4-2): J.McCollum – A.Morrison, D.Smith, S.McCollum, B.Hanna – P.Dunwoody (c), S.Sorohan, G.Blackwell, S.Steele – A.Johnston, M.McCavery

Renwick on the attack

The defenders didn’t come under too much pressure

Sean: “Oi, who just took away all the colours?!”

Jonny taking his usual casual attitude to life