We kick off Club Intermed at the start of each year with the intention of getting to the beach. It's still summer after all, and there's every chance of conditions being just right. But how many times have we actually made it in the five years we've been trying? Just once! Which is just the way the cookie crumbles, as the saying goes.

It was well and truly raining by 6pm this time around, just when we were meant to be heading off to sun and sand - 'The Great Outdoors' was what we'd called it. And so we landed up indoors instead ...

We started in the church hall with a welcome to the new kids (more than 25 of them) and a word or two from a certain leader before everyone got stuck into fish 'n' chips. That was followed by a short talk (about God being always there for us to talk to) and then a good 'mixing' game where the kids had to write down answers to a bunch of questions. Find out who ... is at Club Intermed for the first time ... has lived in Tawa all their lives ... etc, etc.

Shortly after 7pm we were off to the Aquatic Centre at Porirua, all 54 kids and 8 adults, where playing in the various pools and the hydraslide kept everyone entertained for the rest of the evening.

First prize for the 'Talent Spotter' game (the one mentioned above) is shown below. Point your cursor on or near that pic, and you might just get to see who the lucky winner was! Then click on the actual pic to see who came second and third ...