Shall we Sing a Song for you?

Many RPs will just have attended their last New Horizon for two years after the discovery that next year it will clash with the International Holiday Conference in Gartmore! Bad times!! Hopefully the speaker next year isn’t too exciting!

RP interest this year included an ‘I came, I saw, I painted’ seminar by Vincent McDonnell and a few seminars on relationships by Rachel Gardiner!

Bazza

Only made it on Wed night – big Don Arthur Carson in powerful form – good summary of the talk here.

Thirteen congregations were represented at Ballyclabber on Saturday for the annual RP Football tournament. This year saw Faughan’s debut in the competition, where we were immediately drawn in the ‘Group of Death’ along with the two finalists, with local rivals Bready managing to hold us to a draw and then scraping past us on goal difference to eventually win the tournament. Here’s the info:

Final: Bready 2 – 0 Lisburn Dromore (D Smith 2)

Renwick hard man Dave Smith celebrates the opener

Golden Boot: Philip Moffett – 5

Pete congratulates PMO after the veteran delighted the crowd by scoring 4 goals in one game

John George – 4

JG holds off PMO on the way to scoring a cracker

Andy Currie – 4

Andy about to get taken out by the younger McKelvey

Annual Carrick car journey (including Gavin) Team of the Tournament:

Cream Bun (GK)

Dave Smith

Ian McCaughan Gavin McCaughan

John George

Subs: Andy Currie, Philip Moffett

“You are my Dave Smith…”

Der Bun. Not even an honourable mention for Mallite Cromie J! I don’t make these things up, I just post them!

Honourable mentions: John Cromie, Matthew Connor, James McCullough, Willy Jess, Willy George Beckett, Alan Blackwell

Has improved since camp

Young Player of the Tournament: SHARED – Simon Cromie, Andrew Kerr jnr, Paul Kerr, Stuarty McCaughan

Simon next to “He’s here, he’s there…”

Young Kerrser

Goal of the Tournament: Ian McCaughan v. Ballyclabber 2s
Snuffed out a potentially threatening Ballyclabber attack with a well-read interception and cushioned first touch, then looked up and rocketed the ball from his own half into the top corner past tournament organiser and fellow-McCaughan Ricky.

SWS Award for best dressed male: Prof. W. N. S. Wilson

Baptist Professors of Old Testament would probably wear Spurgeon t-shirts too, if Baptists had Professors of Old Testament

More pics:

Piemonger shoots at James

Best team in the world

“Did you really ask 100 people?”

Bun’s thinking: “Crumbs!”

Our long-haired friend

Next year, as the Ballyclabber Tournament reaches its tenth year, we reveal the Team of the Decade!

Exclusively on SWS!!!!!

Previously:
2006
2007

(with thanks to Pete L and statman Joel)

Update: A pair of boots were left behind – please contact Joel or leave a comment if they’re yours.

At last. Sorry. In short – Camp still the best thing ever? Yep!!

Though there’s nothing to rouse you into action like receiving a message from camp’s elder statesman within an hour of arriving (long before the buses of course) saying ‘The bant at this yrs camp is in ur hands’! So with that all sorted it was time for the next dilemma – 7 minutes football time before tea!! Long enough for me to score the first goal of camp though! :-P And concede the first one too…

Not a good start to one’s official bid for the Renwick No. 1 spot

Beautiful people doing beautiful things

Thankfully there was more football after tea, then ice breakers. The Lord’s Day was church, with a prayer meeting after the morning service and not much else. And a psalm sing at night. Monday followed the traditional, time-honoured, and probably perfect schedule of Chip’s Challenges, followed by Fairytales, which this year had become Britain’s Got Talent. Best Chip’s Challenges yet. After our team’s first three games, we had already played two football ones (the instantly legendary aquafootball – thanks to Willy T and Strob – and gettingonsomeone’sshouldersanddirectingthemwhichwaytokicktheballwell), and the spinning round game turned out to be harder than it looked!! The traditional post-CC football was transferred from the entire rugby pitch to one silo cover, where anything went except hand-ball! Brilliant new throw-in rule too… BGT will have to go down as one of my biggest camp regrets (up there with failing the bid up last year!), as to Jonny’s absolute disgust I missed an open goal to call myself after everyone’s favourite DJ.

Slippery slope

Mallage

Tuesday saw go karting in the afternoon, or else paintballing, or teddy bear making for the Cullybackey boys.

The video on the previous post was not in slow motion – they really were that slow!

Phil mastered the correct bumper car technique to take the honours

What’s that about boys?!

Teddy Sheringham

Tuesday evening saw the seminars, which came in handy for the Mastermind sketch.

Wednesday was the away day to Newcastle, where, duly loaded up with sweets as we’d been instructed, we got into the buses and the singing commenced. Good times. Andy Mo came in for the most abuse. The postable ones included ‘Two Robert Hannas’, a special version of ‘Why don’t you go home’ for Alice, the Cromie family, and a tribute to the Clerk, which in a moment of insanity we let Amy video afterwards. And a song which, for a change, started ‘We love Neville and Rhonda…’ :-)

On arrival we went for a ‘walk’, which despite all appearances to the contrary, definitely wasn’t a hike. Or so we were told. In between everybody going round and sharing their sweets, we discussed the merits of William Symington. Then we went to Donard Park for the BBQ, where people were too wrecked to play football, although most seemed to spend their time trying to get one out of a tree.

Camp rocks

“On a warm summer’s evening / on a bus bound for Armagh / four sleeping girls / dream of Andy Mo…”

Then it was back for discussion groups, and a movie night / free time – Joel and I had a little sketch we needed to write – and supper of sausage rolls and such! And probably somebody’s birthday.

Thursday afternoon, for those who weren’t gatecrashing Calvin 500 (Where a certain N. Irish minister was in ‘superlative’ form – Derek Thomas) was down as dancing / free time, but again it was a full day of concert preparation for Ant and myself, which only ended at approximately 8:50pm.

Thurs lunch time – Final concert promo

Gareth’s videos of the whole thing are coming soon, but in the meantime, here’s our closing sketch:

As Thomas Houston wrote in the Covenanter while reviewing his own book, ‘It is manifestly not in our province to say anything in commendation of the discourse’, but on the whole I think the concert went down well! There was more funny stuff this year which was good. Special mention must go to Jonny’s Family Fortunes game, which could only have been surpassed if he’d included some of the ideas that the Mall came up with at 3am the night before, then used its collective wisdom to censor. Happily some did slip through the net though!

Rob promises to show us a good time, as James’ ban is proclaimed in the background

The McCollum family triumphed in Family Fortunes

Shoulda tied the boys to goalposts as planned

Friday was ‘Sports Day’, with the change of name from ‘Competitive Sports’ obviously being taken too literally by most of our team, so the less said about it the better. The Moderator had earlier made an appearance for the talk, prayer time and lunch. At tea, the cooks were thanked, with a poem being read which had been composed specifically for Frances, who responded by reading out the letter she had received 26 years ago asking her to make her debut – as leader. A standing ovation and much chanting ensued.

In the evening there was the party, when tagging was resumed with avengeance. At supper, our esteemed leader announced that breakfast the next morning would be at 8am, which was met with a rousing chorus of ‘There’s only one Andy Aicken’. However it was later clarified that it would actually be at half 8, which calmed passions somewhat! After supper, 02 crashed due to the first years texting people they’d just met at the party. Then Land of Leather – and bed.

Such was the scene at the party when, moments later, Cream Bun appeared out of nowhere with the tag!

Emotions on Saturday morning moved from panic as to whether one had been tagged, to relief that one hadn’t been, to panic as one tried to get showered and one’s stuff out of the Mall (under an addition to the Tag Code for this year) and up for breakfast. Then extreme watchfulness throughout breakfast, and finally smugness when the last name was read out.

Bad times for McCavery

And then back home, where most people could sleep, but I had to get straight into the dissertation (supervisors don’t seem to take it for granted that GO team and camp will result in no addition to the word count!). Which also explains why this report is late, and not one of my better efforts! But as Pete has threatened not to come back next year if I don’t do a decent report for him to read in the build-up, I will just have to close with a plea for him to come back anyway! Like who would we slag off for being old?! And what would we do if we wanted to go to bed and he wasn’t there to head first? Would we have to stay up all week?!

I’m not actually worried though. I don’t know how it would be physically possible for anyone to sit at home and know they were missing out on the craic!! Onwards and Upwards!!

More photos

C’mon Tim!

(Or, indeed, 4)