Jon Jolly: My Life & Youth Work

thoughts, ideas and reflections on working with young people

Entries for October, 2008

Youth Work Bookmarks for October 11th through October 31st

These are my youth work, youth ministry and schools work links for October 11th through October 31st. For more related links, check out my links page

LCET: Luton Churches Education Trust -
schoolswork.co.uk -
Youthwork International - Christian youth work and youth ministry resources for the global community. -
BulkSms.co.uk - 2 way Bulk SMS sending [...]

History of Youth & Community Work Study Conference

Browsing the excellent Infed website today, I came across the History of Youth and Community Work Study Conference taking place early next year. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the name, the conference is an opportunity to explore the historical development of youth and community work.
Like earlier gatherings this will include a mix of plenary sessions, workshops and [...]

Local kayaking teacher dies

A quick post about a bit of sad news from last week. Jon Jolly, my 41 year old namesake and a kayak instructor from Danbury, USA passed away.

As a co-owner of Hanging Rock Outdoor Center in Danbury, Jolly shared his love of paddling with everyone from young children to senior citizens…
The local paddling community [...]

Chairball

Sometimes called Benchball, this is a classic youth work team game that has similarities to netball and basketball.
Numbers: groups of around 10 or over (even numbers make the teams fair).
Suitable for: anyone.
Preparation time: none.
Venue: any open space or hall.
Safety First: This is a gentle physical game that requires people to stand on a chair or [...]

Family Court Statistics

My good friend Dave sent me this dramatic photo he took from an article in today’s Independent newspaper regarding opening up the Family Courts to the public.

In 2007, Family Courts in England and Wales…

heard 107,075 cases involving children
recieved 138,000 petitions for divorce
issued 26,901 domestic violence orders

While I’ve not yet read the entire article, those [...]

Extreme Musical Chairs!

This is an adaptation of the familiar children’s game ‘Musical Chairs’ that makes it more physical and exciting for teenagers!
Numbers: groups of around 10 or over. Best with a large group of 50.
Suitable for: young people aged 11 and over.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Venue: a medium to large sized hall.
Safety First: The game involves some running [...]

Extended Family

Last week I attended the funeral of my grandmother. She was a joyful and mischievous individual who loved God, lived a great life and passed away peacefully at the age of 96. Her funeral was a celebration of her life and contained some fantastic stories of her adventures.
As the family gathered together for the first [...]

Britain’s Got The Pop Factor

…and possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soap-star Superstar Strictly on Ice!
Brilliant TV from Peter Kay tonight with a highly amusing satire of the various TV Talent Competitions. My favourite part was the absolutely inspired medley from Geraldine. Enjoy!

Anglican Ordination?

So a few weeks ago I lead worship for a wedding. The couple were getting married in a beautiful old Anglican church in the countryside and we arrived early to set-up the sound system and run through the songs.
After we had rehearsed, the vicar turned up - a wonderfully gentle man called Father Roger. As [...]

Sneaking In

This week at Ignite, our youth group for Year 7-9 (11-14 year olds), we had a fantastic Inflatable evening. Around 50 young people including about 5 new ones turned up to jump, run, bounce and laugh around. We had a lot of fun.
As I was walking through the room I spotted one of the new [...]

One Page guides on Social Media

For the past few weeks, I had been planning a series of posts about the various online Social Media tools explaining what they were and how they could potentially be used within youth work. However, I’ve realised that rather than re-invent the wheel, I should just point out the excellent One Page Guides written by [...]

Relationship advice for newlyweds?

I picked up this headline from Children & Young People Now about how the Conservatives are wanting to slow the spiralling divorce rates by encouraging couples to take relationship education courses.
Shadow families minister Maria Miller will tell conference today: “The evidence is clear: children who have both parents around and involved in their lives do [...]