13-year-old James Gough was nominated for the Lundie memorial award by the Revd Gerald England, minister of Emmanual Church, Haydon Wick. Having grown up in the church, James's technical skills came to the fore during the Covid-19 pandemic when he was invited to join the all-age worship team.
He proved a real asset, contributing ideas and suggestions but also creating YouTube videos for the services. Gerald told us, "The All Age team have been on a real learning curve with regards the production of online services and James has certainly helped provide us with a growing confidence to cope with projects we never thought possible. James has a wonderful sense of humour and is always a lively presence in our Zoom meetings. He certainly keeps the rest of us on our toes!"
This award is testimony not only to James' willingness to use his gifts, skills and talents to play his part in the mission of God, but also to his church leadership for recognising those gifts and enabling him to serve, learning from his growing expertise and enthusiasm. We look forward to hearing about the presentation of his award and finding out what he plans to do with the £100 to the benefit of children and young people. Sadly this will clearly have to wait until after Christmas and the lifting of restrictions before the presentation of his well-earned medal and certificate can take place... but I am sure his creative mind is already thinking about how that money might be well spent. James, thank you for all you are doing to facilitate worship for your church in this digital world!