In the last nine months, if you visited St Peter’s, Camerton on the first Tuesday of the month, between 4:30 and 6:30pm you would find the church full of laughter and fun, with young people playing table tennis, board games and snooker, and doing arts and crafts. You’d top the evening off with a supper of pizza and cake.
Tony Roake, Associate Priest at St Peter's, Camerton says. “The primary purpose of the parish church is to offer a sacred space for individuals, families and groups in our community to meet and encounter God in worship. In our community, there's no other type of building capable of performing the role that St. Peter's does.
“Some might question the appropriateness of such an "unreligious" event in a church, but in times past, the naves of our parish churches provided a space for parish activities and public meetings other than worship. So, what we're doing at St. Peter's is to revive this ancient custom and practice. In doing this, we're not only giving young people an enjoyable time, we're also giving them the experience of being part of, and belonging to, a special place that is radically different from where they spend the rest of their lives - somewhere that symbolises and expresses, in every stone, the Christian faith and the good news about Jesus Christ."
Pizza@StPete’s is led by Jane van Happs, the Benefice Youth Worker, with Tony’s help and support, and that of curate, the Revd Julian Davies.