The youth group at St Mary's Whitkirk added some unusual beach activities to their two-day trip to Bridington – a baptism in the sea and a Eucharist on the sand..
The youth group, appropriately called FISH, is for children aged 8-15. One of the leaders, Jacob Peat, says, “We wanted to ensure that everyone could take part in the Eucharist, so, as Zach Higgins was the only member not baptised, he agreed to being baptised in the invigorating North sea..
"The water temperature made it ‘interesting’ for him I think, and his parents and the other children enjoyed 
watching it and being part of the service.
"It was 9am so there weren’t many passers-by, but the few there were looked on with bemused fascination!
“We set up FISH because, while St Mary's has plenty of things going on for younger children, we felt more could be done for those slightly older, to make them feel part of their local parish church and to enable them to have fun while exploring the Christian faith."
One of the other leaders is Assistant curate, the Revd Alison Battye. She says, “We 
also spent a lot of time building sandcastles and playing games.
"One team was very creative their castle had a moat and dug down to water. The other team went for size, with a moat, a bridge and five towers. And the curate discovered she could still do cartwheels”.
TOP PHOTO - Assistant Curate, Alison Battye, and Priest-in-Charge, Matthew Peat. baptising Zach Higgins