Young people from in and around Chertsey gathered in the Salesian community on the evening of 12th July to share friendship and to relax after the long and stressful lead up to the GCSE and A Level examinations. The young people were mostly from Salesian School, Chertsey and St John the Baptist School, Woking.

They got to know each other quite quickly and discussed their GCSE exams, their career goals, ambitions in life and different universities and colleges that they have applied to. They discussed the ranking of different universities in UK and the reasons why some universities rank higher than others and the requirement for students to get admission in the top ranking universities.

The students shared their experiences about different jobs they were doing now after their exams and how they helped others who were looking for part time jobs to get into the companies that some of them were working for.

They discussed their faith and the possibilities of keeping the faith alive while living away from parents and friends in the coming years. From this sharing emerged the idea to conduct a "home mission" among the young people around to mobilise young people in the community to get involved in the Church and local community events more actively.

After the sharing and discussions the young people gathered in our community chapel and recited the Holy Rosary and prayed for themselves and for the whole world.

The gathering came to its conclusion with a shared dinner. The young people brought several food items from home and shared what they had. They all enjoyed being together and benefitted much from the discussions.

Fr Cyril John Edamana SDB