breakout2008.info

Hi, Well this is my first ever blog…

I thought it was time that I updated you on some of the current work that the MAYC staff are involved in for Breakout. This Wednesday (13th) is very important as Steve, Rob, Alan and myself will be visiting Cliff to try to agree (hammer out) the final arrangements and prices for catering.  This will allow us to set the final budget that in turn should enable us to agree the final ticket prices for the event…. (Confession time…. it’s because I’m seeing Rob on Wednesday that I thought I ought to try to post a blog!)

I have also passed the text for the theological statement to my Coordinating Secretary for final approval.  I expect that this will be agreed this week and able to be posted on the main web site.

Another imminent meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday).  I shall be meeting with staff from the Department for Education and Skills in Sheffield and will get an idea as to whether we can apply for funding for the work of MAYC and particularly Breakout from April 2008.  If we can it may be possible to subsidise tickets prices further…

We are also busily preparing for the Methodist Conference… in fact this is pretty much dominating our work.  As well as responding to the proposed changes to MAYC, we will be supporting the Youth Participation Strategy, launching a new version of Step by Step - the good practice guide for youth work - (the new edition has an amazing name… Step by Step 2 - impressive eh?), oh and we will also be promoting Breakout at every opportunity!

Well I’m sure Rob will be suitably impressed with this now…. so TTFN 

Mike Seaton

Hello, I’m Michael Green and I am part of the Interactivity Team for Breakout.  I’m not going to give away any secrets yet but we have got some great sports / activities in the pipeline, things that we hope will give you completely new experiences at Breakout.

 Anyway, a bit about me, I live in Norfolk (And NO ! I’ts not Flat !) although it does always seem to be a long way from anywhere else in the country.  I travel the country getting people all excited about fruit and veg and bread for a supermarket - sounds exciting I know ! 

 Right, well that will do for now, remember to pop back every now and then to see how the planning is going, bye for now !

Hi, I’m Meg and I’m looking after the worship events that will be taking place over the Breakout weekend. I’ll be letting you know soon what we’ve got planned. We’ll have a variety of events going on - something for everyone - from lively and energetic to chilled out and soulful.

If you have any thoughts on what worship you would like to see over the weekend then email us with your ideas - we’d love to hear them!

Hi There

 I am Ian Simpson and I am one of the three logistics managers, along with Allith & Dave Rutt, though Dave is currently looking after the marketing side of breakout and won’t join up with us until early 2008.  I live in a small town called Poulton-Le-Fylde, which is 3 miles away from the lovely seaside down of Blackpool (NOT!) having been involved with the last 2 breakouts, which have both been on my doorstep in Blackpool, it will seem very different to be going to Cliff College this time around! 

So the logisitics team then..  Our main responsibilities will be sorting out the infrastructure of the event from stewarding, site management etc (sorry, there is probably more, which i don’t know about yet!!!!!!)  We have our first team meeting on 20th May, so if any of you guys have any issues or need us to include any aspect of your area in our meeting for discussion, then please feel free to contact either myself or Allith on the logistics email address.

 P.S.  Rob Redpath has created a web based petition, called www.savemethodistyouthwork.org and I enchorage those who haven’t signed it yet to do so!

 Ian

My name is Bernard Nixon and I am on the support team along with Judith James. I will be responsible for preparing some of the paperwork i.e. Booking Form, Programme, Leaders Handbook etc.

The support team will also be responsible for purchasing merchandice . If you have any suggestions for items you believe will sell, please let me know.

I have been involved with MAYC either as a member or leader for over 35 years and I am still involved with a youth club today. I hope therefore that my experience will help the Breakout Team to create an event to remember. Watch this space for further information

Hi there, my name is Mark Hall, and along with Graeme Neale I am responsible for all the elements that are classed as purely entertainment ratherthen worship or being a participation event.

Graeme has been working overtime to bring volunteers on board to look after the various areas that we are providing. I’m currently looking into the feasability of setting up an onsite radio station .

There is still lots of scope if you want to become involved with the weekend, so send us an email stating what you are intrested in helping us out with.  I’m sure that this will be the same for the others areas of work over the weekend. 

I started supporting this event when it was London weekend and I essentially moved equipment around and made tea, someone had to do it!!!  With experience came responsibilty to the stage of now being an established member of the management team. Over the years I have made some great friends through MAYC so please don’t be shy about asking if you can help out. 

 My background is a technical one, so keep an eye out for future bloggs where I hope to be able to share some of the stats about the equipment we will be using over the weekend. 

I hope your looking forward to the event as much as we are, don’t forget to send us your details if you want to be involved but also send us your ideas for what you would like to see over the weekend at Cliff.

Looking forward to meeting you all at Cliff!

Mark

Well I don’t know about anyone else but i’m excited about Breakout already! It’s gonna be great!

Oh yeah I should probably say who I am :-s I’m Paul and i’m on the management team looking after youth participation. “What on earth is that?” I hear you cry! Well i’m here to make sure Breakout ties in with whats going on with regards to youth work in the rest of the Methodist Church.

One of the main aspects of Breakout is going to be that people are going to be placed in to villages. These villages will take part in activities together and will join up and take part in activities with other villages as well as the entire of Breakout. Through this you will be able to make new friends and links so you can take back some of the enthusiasm and excitement of Breakout with you.

 Well I gotta go now but keep your eyes peeled on the Blog for more info.

We had a management team meeting at Cliff College (the venue for breakout08) over the weekend and it was really good to get everyone together.  We haven’t met since March and for some teams there has been some real progress.

We had a walk around the site, and I showed the rest of the team how to post their own blogs, so hopefully you will hear from a few more people than just me and ‘other’ Rob!

Hi! I’m Rob Redpath and I’m one of the two ICT team members on the Breakout Management group. alongside Vince. My technical specialism lies with mobile technologies and media content delivery, while Vince, as the IT manager for the Methodist Church, specialises more in networking and infrastructure. Together we make a mean service delivery team and we’ve got exciting things planned for the event. Stay tuned…

Hi there,

I just wanted to say hi - and to let you know that the blogs are now live.  Each of the members of the team will be dropping in to say hello and introduce themselves - and to tell you how they play a part in the organisation of Breakout.

On that note,  hello, my name is Rob Haworth.  I am one of the event managers for Breakout’s event management company (Affinity Events) and am also looking after the event website (more on that soon!).  As I’m the first to post, let me also be the first to welcome you to the site.