Recently I walked with a friend to the stepping stones at Dovedale. He suddenly stopped in his tracks and said “I just remember the last time I walked across these steps. It was 65 years ago. I was 11 years old.”
A few weeks before, I was talking to a seasoned headteacher whose face lit up when I mentioned the same place. He shared vivid memories of a childhood stay at Dovedale House with while at primary school. Why do I mention these memories?
Most teachers, administrators, school governors and youth workers appreciate an immense privilege to help develop hope and aspiration among young people. If it works as we plan, young people in our context are happy and they move on with life-long positive memories.Dovedale House was birthed in 1967 with that same vision, that it can be a Christian place where positive life-long memories are created for young people. Everyone remembers the excitement of a first school trip, the coach journey, sharing a room with friends, getting out into amazing countryside, climbing hills, walking by rivers. All these are at Dovedale House.
Hills, rivers and the great outdoors, feature so much in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s ministry. It was there that people became followers of Jesus, and also where people grew in their discipleship journey, where they learned about a vibrant faith being one where reaching out and serving others was pioneered.
We read that Jesus taught the Christian faith while sitting, standing or walking on hills, he was transfigured, arrested and subsequently crucified on a hill. Jesus was himself baptised in a river, and many people followed his example. The majority of recorded miracles took place in the great outdoors. The common feature of all these stories is that God revealed himself, and this created memories that have lasted forever.
Dovedale House provides a fabulous 50-bed setting, where you bring children and youths, to enhance the hard work that you currently do, to give hope and to raise aspirations for a great life. It is a breath-taking place where we can help young people make lifelong positive memories. In order to fulfil our dream and yours to accomplish this, we need your help.
If you have links to any school or youth work, please can you introduce the Dovedale House opportunity in your places of education, and amongst your peers. At present there is even an offer of a bursary to ensure that no one misses out on making positive life-long memories.
The Revd Jeremy Oakley ‘retired to the countryside’ from work as a vicar in Wolverhampton and with his wife, Julie, soon found himself offering to take on the role of interim warden of Dovedale House.
Read more about Dovedale House at lichfield.anglican.org/Dovedale or contact Jeremy by email - dovedalewarden@lichfield.anglican.org