The rain held off on Sunday 30th June 2024 for Derry & Raphoe Youth’s annual barbecue at the Summer Madness festival, which took place in Portglenone again this year.
The event is Ireland’s largest Christian youth festival and our team of leaders are looking after around 20 young people, from seven different churches in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe.
This year’s theme is ‘Living Life on Purpose’, with a strong signal to young people that what they choose to do with their lives matters, and that there’s no better choice they can make than to choose Jesus Christ.
The festival takes place over five days – from Friday until Tuesday – and there’s a huge variety of activities to keep youthful minds occupied. These include seminars, workshops, sports, games and gigs, and the highlight each day is the worship session in the Big Top, which draws hundreds to sing and pray together.
This year’s Derry & Raphoe Youth barbecue saw our Diocesan Youth Officer, Claire Hinchliff, step up to the plate – well, the grill, actually – and she was ably assisted by Pauline Beadle who took care of the vegetarian options on the menu. The chairman of D.R.Y., Rev Peter Ferguson, was there to lend a hand, literally, while no diocesan barbecue would be complete without a visit by C.I.Y.D.’s National Youth Officer, Simon Henry, who duly obliged by dropping in, just in time for lunch.
