Last Day

Yesterday was my last day as an employee of the Board of Youth & Children’s Ministry in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland! I had been on a 3-year externally funded contract and despite various efforts over the last year or so, no further funding was secured. I left with mixed emotions – a certain amount of frustration that the funding couldn’t get sorted to continue the work I’ve been doing and sadness to be leaving my colleagues for whom I have a lot of respect for their dedication, devotion and faithfulness to young people in PCI but also gratitude for how good the last 3 years have been. It’s been a great role, when I started I was lacking a little bit of confidence owing to some previous experiences but the job allowed me to find my feet in youth work again and I’ve learnt so much, particularly about community relations work and peacebuilding – it’s been a personal as well as professional journey of growth and development. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some fantastic people and it’s been energising to work with young people in a variety of projects and spheres. My highlights would include meeting Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, in February ’07, attending the Summer Peacebuilding Institute in Virginia, USA in May ’07, running the PYP programme with a group of young people at the Vine Centre, being involved in the SPUD youth assembly, a day on site building with Habitat for Humanity, training youth leaders and taking them on Field Trips to Stroke City meeting local guides from both sides of the community, leading the Adventure Camps, the project in Tullycarnet last summer…man, there’s been a lot of good stuff!

My colleagues were very generous in their gifts including these 2 books which look great on my coffee-table and I’m going to enjoy delving into them regularly!


It’s all still a little surreal, I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that I’ve left – I haven’t quite got my head round it all, but the lie-in this morning was very welcome indeed. As for what’s next, well I’m not 100% sure just yet but there are a couple of possibilities in the pipeline so hopefully more on that at a later date.