More than 600 schoolchildren have visited St Mary’s Church in Bury St Edmunds to learn about the story of the resurrection.
Youngsters in years 5 and 6 from eight primary schools across west Suffolk were treated to a tour of the church as part of its week-long ‘Easter Encounters’ event, with scenes performed by actors in full costume.
Jenny Aston, St Mary's Children’s leader, said: “We have had 60-70 children coming in for each tour, lasting around 60 minutes each. The children were split into groups and toured different stations, hearing stories from the Bible along the way. It was a terrific event and the children were really inspired to learn more.”
Groups of children were met by three witnesses, Jesus’ mother Mary, a Roman soldier and Joseph of Arimathea.
At the first station they visited an ‘Easter Garden’ where they met Mary Magdalene and Joanna when they visited Jesus’ tomb. In the garden, the children were invited to create tissue flowers before fixing them to a cross at the end of the tour.
Next, the children visited Galilee to learn about the meeting of Peter, John and Jesus on the shoreline. There, children could hear an Easter poem written by Amy Scott Robinson.
The children’s next stop was The Upper Room where they heard the story of doubting Thomas. The children were asked to draw a question mark in a sand tray while thinking about what they would ask Jesus.
The children then visited the Travellers on the Emmaus Road before setting off to their final stop in Jerusalem.
The spectacular backdrops for each scene were painted by Victoria Bush, while the scripts for each presentation were written by Helen Matter.
Jenny said: “The project was brilliant – we had more than 600 children visit the church over the length of the project. One school, which was not able to attend during the week, was able to use the scripts and act out the stories themselves. We have a wonderful team of actors and volunteers who really love doing this and it has been great fostering relationships with our local primary schools. The children really enjoyed it. They had very insightful questions and had a great time exploring the church.”
For more information on St Mary’s Church and new on upcoming events, see stmaryschurchbse.org