Min Y Don 2026 - St Peter's Church

Rvd Lizzy and the Min Y Don Team have written to all Parents/Guardians/Carers:

I am delighted to be getting in touch to say that bookings for our Min y Don residential 2026 are now open! We are so looking forward to spending this quality time with our young people and sharing the fun of the activities and joy of the worship times with them.

Before booking your child onto the residential this year, please read the below information as you will be asked on the booking form to confirm that you have read and accepted these details about the residential.

Dates

We will be away from Friday 15^th May until Sunday 17^th May and will travel by coach there and back. Everyone will meet early Friday evening (around 5:30pm- details to be confirmed closer to the time) at the Simon Peter Centre and will take the coach from there. Please ensure that your child(ren) have eaten their evening meal before travelling or have a lunch box meal to eat when they arrive as there will be no evening meal provided. Snacks and drinks (except water) will not be allowed on the coach to minimise the risk of any travel sickness. We will arrive back at the Simon Peter Centre on the Sunday at around 6pm.

Location Details

Min y Don is a Christian Activity Centre in North Wales (Arthog, Gwynedd) and has been the location for many St Peter’s Youth weekends away. The residential is open to young people in school years 5-10 and this year is being led by Greg Brookes who led our trip last year and has lots of experience in youth work, and Rev’d Lizzy Holland, our Rector. More information about the site can be found here: https://minydon.com/

Communication on the Weekend

Parents will naturally want to hear what the young people have been up to and to see pictures of the activities and sessions. Before the weekend we will set up a Whatsapp group where regular updates and pictures will be shared throughout the weekend. Please be aware that parents will not be able to comment on this group, it will be for updates only, so we will have a number for parents to contact individually if there are any concerns or further information needed.

Kit List

Each young person will require:

Comfortable, warm clothing suitable for outdoor activities. Please bring multiple changes of clothes as they can get muddy and wet and ideally have your child’s name in their clothes. Please include at least 1 long sleeved top.
Pyjamas
Indoor footwear
Sunglasses, sunhat and suncream
Comfortable outdoor (preferably waterproof) shoes
Coat/jacket suitable for wet weather
Toiletries
2 towels
Hairdryer (if needed)
Sleeping bag
Pillowcase
Bedsheet
Small rucksack or bag
3 large plastic bags or binbags for bringing home wet kit
Torch
Notebook and pen/pencil
Water bottle
Money for tuck shop (no more than £10)
Bible

Please note: St Peter’s Church, the Min y Don centre and team cannot accept any responsibility for the loss or damage of any personal property and each young person is responsible for the safekeeping of their own property.

Behaviour

Our youth residentials are intended to be a fun-filled weekend with opportunities for our young people to deepen their relationships with each other, grow in confidence and discover more of the love of God. To enable this to happen during the weekend, our leaders expect a high standard of behaviour based on loving respect to one another. This includes:

Being friendly and encouraging to one another
Listening without interrupting
Treating others as you would expect to be treated
Asking for consent before taking a video or photo of somebody else
Only posting content about others on social media with their permission
Speaking kindly and thoughtfully
Keeping to the timetable and plan for the weekend
Following instructions and respecting the boundaries put in place by the Min y Don and St Peter’s teams
Socialising in the common areas, not going into one another’s bedrooms
Respecting other people’s need for space and rest

Leaders will have a lights out policy and is intended to ensure that all young people have enough rest to fully engage and enjoy the weekend.

Please be aware that if any of the young people do not behave appropriately on the weekend they may miss out on activities or parents may be asked to come and collect their child(ren) from the weekend.

Tuck Shop

There is a tuck shop on site which sells snacks and souvenirs and everyone will have opportunity to visit. Please only send your child with a maximum of £10 in cash for this.

Medication

Some young people may require medication whilst away on the residential. If that applies to your child, please:

State on the booking form the medication your child is on, the dosage and frequency with which this needs to be taken (should this change before the weekend please contact the team to let them know).
At drop off on the Friday night, hand over the medication to the designated medication lead who will store this in a locked box. Please ensure that the details of dosage and frequency for taking the medication are also labelled on the medication or there is a sheet of paper with this information in a zip lock bag with the medication.

All medication will need to be handed in to the medication lead as this prevents any misuse of medication or accidentally consumption and helps ensure everyone can have a safe and enjoyable residential.

On the booking form you will be asked to consent to the medication lead giving your child basic medication should this be needed which would include paracetamol, ibuprofen, plasters, antihistamines. If your child has an allergy to any of these, please include it in the allergy section on the booking form.

Mobile Phones

Young people will be allowed to bring mobile phones with them, but will only be allowed to use them during break times in the common room.

If a child is distressed and needs to contact home outside of these times they will be able to speak to a leader who will supervise them calling home.

This is intended to protect the young people on our residentials as we are aware that a phone is also a camera and used for social media and so it is not appropriate to have these devices in bedrooms where young people are sleeping, getting changed and need to feel safe. The intention of the weekend is to give our young people opportunity to engage in new activities, to build relationships and grow in faith and confidence, and phones can be a distraction, preventing young people from being fully present.

Inclusivity

At St Peter’s we aim to be an inclusive church, welcoming diverse people to participate in community, and this is true across all ages. We will do our best to include and support young people with additional needs on our residential weekends, but our leaders are volunteers who may not have expertise in additional needs work. If your child has any additional needs, please give as much information as you are able to on your booking form. Once the forms have been received, the leaders may need to speak to you to discuss how best to support your young person on the weekend. Please note, in certain circumstances, we may not be able to provide suitable support and number of leaders to be able to include your young person in the weekend away.

This year we are delighted to have a number of young people in year 10 who are continuing to want to come to our residential and so we have adapted the weekend to enable our older young people to come along too. The rooms and groups will be split into young people in school years 5-7 and those in school years 8-10. This means that we can accommodate up to 24 young people in school years 5-7 and 16 young people in school years 8-10. Bookings will be on a first come first served basis and we will communicate with the church when our maximum numbers are reached for each age group.

Booking

Having read to and agreeing to the above, if you would like to send your young person on our residential weekend, please complete the following steps:

Please complete our online booking form which can be found here: https://forms.gle/cJ9CPTUuEZFmufCz8

The deadline for bookings is Sunday 18^th January.

Please pay a £20 deposit, using your child’s name as the reference. The bank details are: Barclays Bank, Sort Code 20-50- 82, Account No 10695076, Account Name PCC StPeters Woolton General Account. Please note that this deposit is not refundable.
We will have a leader, young people and parents meeting date which is to be confirmed and is an opportunity to complete the final forms for Min y Don, confirm room allocations, agree to the behaviour charter, confirm final details and get to meet other people who will be attending. Please look out for this date.
The remaining balance for the weekend will be due by Sunday 12^th

The total cost for the weekend this year is £160 and covers the cost of the coach and the weekend itself, including accommodation, food and activities. If you would like confirmation of payment, please contact our treasurer, Stephen on [email protected].

Cost should not be a reason why a young person is unable to attend so if this is a barrier for you, please speak to Rev’d Lizzy or one of our church wardens and we can discuss some support options for you to help make the weekend viable. If you would find it helpful to pay in instalments across several months that is absolutely fine. There is a price increase this year due to increasing costs at the Min Y Don centre so if this increase is an issue for you, please do speak to us for some support.

We are so looking forward to this year’s residential and pray it will be a blessed weekend away for leaders and young people. If you have any further questions please contact the team leading the weekend or speak to Rev’d Lizzy Holland ([email protected]).

Many blessings!