A HOLIDAY club organised by St James’ Church in Trowbridge gave primary school-aged children an opportunity to experience what it is like to be a polar explorer last week.

The annual club, which has been run by the church on the first week of the school summer holidays for the past three years, ran from Tuesday to Friday (July 28-31) and saw 36 children enjoy the activities on offer.

As well as decking out the church hall as an arctic base – complete with an igloo and reindeer – the children were also visited by two real life arctic missionaries who talked about their experiences in Canada.

Revd Rob Thomas, rector at Trowbridge St James' and Keevil, said: “We have got a brilliant team of adults who put it all together and they spent a good month getting everything ready and making props to decorate the hall.

“We have been running the holiday club for three years and this was our biggest one yet. It was a lovely week and some of the children have already been on to their parents asking to book for next year.

“Each year we try and have a different theme, with a space explorer theme for the first year and a mega maker theme for the second year. This year we did polar explorers and the church hall looked fantastic with an igloo and icicles.

“It was great to get some real arctic missionaries in and they spoke about their time ministering to the Inuit people in Canada. They brought along some artefacts and showed the children some of their equipment.”

He added: “The feedback has been absolutely brilliant and the children just loved it. The parents also said how much they enjoyed it and many of the children came to a big celebration with had on Sunday as well.”