Big Church Day Out review 2009

By Josh

(If you would like to read a more formal review and see lots of official photos and videos, click on the following link to Inspire magazine)

Well, it was a frantic morning, getting everything ready, and checking we hadn't left anything behind. I was chilling out on the laptop, ready for mum to tell us to put my shoes on.

So, finally, about 20 minutes behind schedule, we sat down in one of two cars, and started the short drive to Harrietsham, to pick up Holly, Mark, Edward and Jessica.  They dispersed into our cars, and we set off to West Sussex, which was where the event was to take place.

The journey wasn't torture, and when the traffic started to get sticky we just pulled off the motorway and took the pleasant back roads the remain of the way (it wasn't that far away).

We pulled into the queue of cars waiting to turn in, and waited for the cars to crawl along enough for us to eventually turn in. I have made that procedure sound like a torturous one, but it was only about 5 minutes, so Edward and I continued to try and find a car that began with a 'U'.

The queue to park was a longer procedure. The only reason for that was that there were loads of people trying to get in at one time. The actual process wasn't amazingly thought out, but it worked out in the end for everyone. I suppose it was lucky that we were in the midst of a lot of friendly Christians, because there was no squabbling over who went in first. It was more like,

“You can go in first.”

“No, pish posh, you can go first”

“NO, I insist, you go first...”

The parking was easier. It didn't take as long and we were just shoved into a position and we were left to get our foldaway chairs out and picnic.

We didn't really know where to go, so we went to the biggest looking arena. It had flags all around it and a huge stage. Everyone else seemed to be walking over there as well, so that was where we went.  On the way we got a programme, and it gave us an idea of what we wanted to do.

We chose a spot in the area just in front of one of the rotatable cameras that would be filming everyone. We thought that we were going to be near the back at the end of the event, but it turned out that we would be about halfway down.

We tucked in to our sandwiches, and our other friends started to turn up as well. Mark and Mandy, Neil, Mandy, Jake, Ross and Jane (Mandy's Cousin). Mum lost her sandwich, only to find it flattened underneath her when she stood up. It was about about this thin ===== We were in hysterics for a while after that.

After a look at the programme, we decided what we were going to do for the day. Touch Rugby was on the list, and so was YFriday. Delirious? Was also on the list, but that wasn't going to start until 8:30.  Matt, Jake, Ross, Edward and me decided to play a game of football, but stopped after about 10 minuted because the heat was just so great.

We sat in the shade for a bit, and then walked through a wood about 40 meters away from where we were stationed. There were lots of nettles and thorns, but we found our way around them. We also had a bit of a catchup with each other. We had to walk through a sheep field as well. We thought that there was a ram, but we discovered it was only a sheep in need of some exercise.

YFriday was about to start, so we trundled back to the sunny spot.  I had never heard YFriday before, but they were good. I enjoyed it, they played some good music and it was good rock music. There was only one thing that I thought that they could improve. Well, I expect that they did jump around the stage once, but they have probably got past that age now!!!

Once that was over, we (being Me, Jake, Ross, Matt and Edward) decided to explore around. We then discovered that the man's front garden we were having a party in was quite big – I mean huge.

We found another small arena where there was another band playing. It was more of a youth arena, with competitions, and throwing water bombs at each other. There was a lovely area of shade, and we all sat there. There was something where you could win £5, and Jake had a random guess that the answer was 51. The answer was 51. He was rather annoyed that I hadn't rang them. It could've bought me my dinner!

We decided to take a look at the Touch Rugby, because the heat had cooled down SLIGHTLY.  Ross decided we were too cool for touch rugby, and asked the instructors if we were allowed to play contact. It was not as simple as we thought it would be. We had to answer some questions if were to be allowed to play. One of the questions we had to answer was 'Who is a retired English rugby player that is a Christian.' The answer was Jason Robinson. We all learnt something from that. And if you were wondering – we were allowed to play.

There was also a Ferris Wheel there. After we had had our (rather expensive) dinner, we started to join the queue for it. From where we were standing, it was meant to take 25 minutes. It took around 50.  From the top of it you got a fabulous view of the crowd that was there. There were 14,000 people there, and it was quite an experience.

Ross, Matt and I wondered what it felt like to be rich, so we went to the man;s back garden, and started lying on the grass. Because there were kind of different layers of grass, we laid on every layer and rated it. There was some rough grass, but also some grass that was heavenly to lie on.  We were also joking around with the guard. We devised a plan. Our plan was to walk past him as if nothing had happened, but we would then pretend to shoot fake guns at him. He was good. He didn't move. He was really good. His only response was a shake of the head, which had the expression 'mad kids'. He did have a smile on his face as well.

That was about all we did before Delirious? Their gig was really good, and some of the songs that I knew I sang along with too. It had an amazing atmosphere, perhaps even better that some of the football matches that I have watched.  Unfortunately, towards the end of the gig, I developed a rather nasty headache.

That was about it really. We didn't fancy waiting in a long queue to get out for ages, so everyone else had a cup of tea and a chat, but I fell asleep in the car in an effort to get my headache away.  When we did leave, it was really quick for us to get out. We got home at about 1:30. Unfortunately, I had been asleep all the way home and wasn't that tired. I managed to get to bed without any trouble though. It was an amazing day for all of us, and if there is another one, I would urge everyone to book tickets.         

I would rate the day 10/10!