Farnborough Road Infant School, Year 1 visit St. John’s, 2013

On Wednesday 22^nd May, Year 1 children from Farnborough Road Infant School came to visit St. John’s.  They had come to find out what the church was like and what it was used for.

Jeremy welcomed the children two classes at a time.  He  asked them to “Point to the church”.  The children looked a bit bemused and then pointed in all directions.  Jeremy then explained that the church was not the building at all.  The church was the people that came to the building to worship and pray together and lean more about God and Jesus.  He told them it was like school.  He said Farnborough Road School was not the building in Farnborough Road but the teacher and the children that go there to work and play.  He told them, just as they were Farnborough Road Schoo,l we were St. John’s Church.

He told them that originally Farnborough Road School was St. John’s School but that when the school got too big it was eventually moved to Farnborough Road.  

They noticed that the emblems on their sweatshirts and polo shirts were the same symbol as for St. Johns.  The same one as is etched onto the glass doors at the entrance to the church.

[In fact St. John’s school started in St. John’s Road opposite the church.  When it outgrew that site it moved to the corner of Sandon Road and Cardigan Road before moving to Farnborough Road in 1934.  When the glass doors were installed, the church could not find a suitable emblem so they borrowed an old blazer badge from the school to use as a template for etching the design!]

He showed the children how the church was divided into different parts – the nave, the aisle, the chancel.  He explained that the word nave came from an old (Latin) word for ship.  He asked them to look up into the roof and notice that looking up at the beams and ceiling is very similar to looking down into the bottom of a wooden boat or ship.  The Nave of the church was like an upside down ship.

He went on to point out the stained glass windows and the furniture of the church – the pews, the stalls, the Holy Table, the pulpit, the lectern, the font, etc.  He explained what the items were called and what they were used for.

After they had listened to Jeremy, Cathy demonstrated the organ for the children before they stood up to sing along to

“My God is so big, so strong and so mighty
There’s nothing that He cannot do …..”

complete with actions!

Finally, the children wandered around the church, looking at, and some times trying out the parts that interested them. 

Cathy was there to discuss the organ with them and show them how it worked!

It was lovely to have the children in our building.

Thanks for coming kids!