Our Lion King by Greenfield

When Bodmin College's Greenfield combined the stories of the Lion King and Easter for a performance at Bodmin's St Petroc's Church, the result was a powerful presentation of life, hope and resurrection...

Greenfield, the North Cornwall Area Resource Base at Bodmin College, staged a production of ‘Our Lion King’ at St Petroc’s Church, Bodmin on Wednesday 5th April. Attended by over 150 people, some £250 was raised for the Umzimvubu project in South Africa, and a further £105 was raised in the D & N Cafe at the end of the evening which was run by two Greenfield volunteers David Baines and Nigel Deboo.

Bishop of St Germans, Bishop Roy visited a feeding project in Umzimvubu which feeds 150 orphans three times a week at a cost of £3,000 a year. Greenfield students understood that whilst the show was on, for some hour and a half, that over 90 children in South Africa would have died.

Elizabeth Furnell, Head of Greenfield and her co-planner, Elaine Munday, a Greenfield Teaching Assistant, gave praise to the hard work of all her teaching and teaching assistant team who made the evening possible. All 35 students from Greenfield gave a stunning performance which included jive-dancing, poetry written by Jerry Hill, a Greenfield Teaching Assistant, and acting to a specially written play loosely based on the story of Lion King but linked with the story of Easter. Leading boys, Sam Penna and Sam Mitchell gave an emotional performance, with Shelley Greenaway and Quinlan Wright narrating the play. Dancers Hannah, Linda, Kathleen, Zanika, Rebecca and Becky together with their partners Mark, Richard, Hayden, Bradley, Tom and Frederick gave outstanding displays of jive-dancing in sequence which had the audience applaud throughout some scenes.

Father Graham Minors, Father Matt Godfrey and Shelia Stevens, the Bodmin College Chaplain, gave prayers, blessings and the sermon, and collectively thanked the Greenfield staff and students for a wonderful evening.

Jackie Bennallick, Chairman of the Friends of Greenfield said, “A wonderful show, the best yet.” Kathryn Hoskin, a Greenfield parent and a Greenfield volunteer simply said that the show was wonderful. “The dancers were step perfect, the students were clear throughout and once again I remain one of the proudest teachers in Cornwall,” said Elizabeth Furnell.

From Senior Management at Bodmin College, Mr Paul Tyrrell attended and gave thanks to the church, Greenfield staff and students for their outstanding contribution to the community. Phil Hadley, a Bodmin College Teacher and the co-ordinator of the Christian Youth Group (Jesus and Me – JAM) within the school said that it was a “powerful presentation. It was a privilege to watch.” Greenfield received cards and letters of thanks the next day at Greenfield, one of which stated that “it was fantastic to watch so many talented young people.” High praise for students who all struggle with either academic, behavioural or medical difficulties.

Some of the art work that Greenfield students were involved with for the performance of ‘Our Lion King’ is on display at St Petroc’s Church, Bodmin throughout April.

Greenfield now looks forward to their end of year residential, this year to Woodlands, Devon and their next performance for Bodmin will be at Christmas. We hope to see you all there.

Report written by Liz Furnell, Head of Greenfield

Photos by Phil Hadley

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