Beautiful July

Pres Napier, 1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency

The month of July has been one of wonderful summer weather with lots of sun and little rain. This is unusual for northern Ireland we are told every day but we are really enjoying it. One of our summer like activities was helping out a day at the Belfast Stake Young Women Camp. We taught campfire cooking to groups of girls as they made chocolate banana boats, helped judge their Master Chef challenge, yum, yum, and helped with the bracelet making during their afternoon craft making. 

Young Women Camp

It was a beautiful day and held in a beautiful place. It was on the Lorne Estate that had been purchased in 1946 by the Girl Guiding Ulster for a place for youth activities. Built in the Scottish Baronial style in 1875 by Henry Campbell, Lorne takes its name from the hereditary home of the Campbell Clan in Scotland. The old house still stands and it was easy to picture it in its early days with carriages in the cobbled drive.

The Lorne house

Looking into the courtyard

From the back

We met two young women at the camp who were not members but wanted to have the discussions and be baptized. We again met them at the Stake picnic and we were invited to joint teach them with the Newtownabbey missionaries one Monday evening. We drove to another beautiful area just out of Belfast on the west side of the Lough where we could view the harbour. They have a beautiful little chapel that looks out on the lough.

View of Belfast from Newtownabbey chapel.

The stake picnic was held in the Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park which is home of the world famous City of Belfast International Rose Garden. The air was sweet with the smell of roses and the several large planting areas of roses with trellises and walkways. There were thousands of different varieties and colours of roses. The park coves an area of 128 acres and also has a Japanese garden and a walled garden plus a very fun children's play ground.

We have enjoyed the activities with the Young Single Adults. The summer has been a bit slow as far as numbers attending but we still have a great time. One FHE night we went with the YSA on an explore of a historical site called the Giants Ring.It is a huge earthwork circle with a rock formation in the centre believed to have been from around 2700 BC and an example of a Henge monument.  

The henge at Giants Ring

Being photo bombed by our YSA president

The YSA who went with us

Giants Ring with the henge in the middle.