Praizin’ Hands Puppet Group was set up in 2003 in Hythe by Bev Eyres, responding to a sense of calling she had when she was much younger at Girls Brigade.
“I remember going to a district church parade in London with lots of different companies and there was a puppet group there,” she said. “And everyone in the audience, from babies to 106, were so engaged in the show, and I felt God say to me then, ‘you are going to start a puppet group.’
“So then many years later, when I moved down to Hythe (and at the time my children were one and four) we started with just 2 puppets and a basic stage. And it’s just grown and grown!”
Now the puppet group encompasses three different teams of volunteers and goes in to perform in over 50 schools around Hampshire, as well as care homes and toddler groups and other community events.
It originally started as something fun for the church youth group to do. The youth team, called ‘Little Hands’, now include some established puppeteers who regularly lead Messy Church services and take part in community fun days.
Bev says it’s been great to watch the young people grow in confidence and develop their skills: “We have one young puppeteer and she would never ever come out behind the stage, but she is a really good puppeteer – she just comes alive!”
The adult team, called ‘Big Hands’, go out into the community, putting on puppet presentations in schools, often sharing the Christmas and Easter stories. “The use of puppets to convey the Christian message is non-threatening,” says Bev. “because of this they are able to appeal to everyone no matter what their age is.”
Bishop Philip recently went to meet some of the members of the Praizin’ Hands team, to encourage them in their work and to record a special end-of-term video with the puppet Baaa-bara sheep and her son Bob, wishing all the children in our diocese a happy summer holiday.
He was full of praise for the team: “I think it’s a marvellous way of sharing the Christian message in a way that’s fun and creative and appeals to young and old alike. I was so impressed by craft and energy of the puppeteers! It’s wonderful to see how God is using them to connect with so many people in the community.”
In 2007, a new team was set up called the ‘PSHE Schools project team’ and this group put on presentations on secular social issues on a wide range of topics helping young people to make the right choices in their lives. Their repertoire is there to support the PSHE curriculum, including tackling subjects such as internet safety, alcohol, drugs, bullying, healthy living.
“In our PSHE work we also look at managing emotions,” says Bev. “Any adult can stand up and say ‘now kids you shouldn’t get angry’ but it won’t necessarily hit home, but when children see our show and they can often identify with the character in a puppet, and it’s interesting to see how they react. You see them thinking “oh, that’s me, maybe I should try and divert this anger into other channels! It’s very revealing and the teachers love it.”
The group is rooted in and supported by several local churches including St John’s Hythe and St Andrew’s Dibden Purlieu, and they have recently moved all their puppets and equipment into St Andrew’s as a long-term home and hub. “We’ve had different locations for storage over the years. We’ve just come from what we call ‘the shack’ – it served a purpose, but it was damp, cold, all our props were getting ruined. But then we heard about the space at St Andrew’s. I think it’s God’s timing, to be honest. God is really blessing us.”
Their aim is to continue expanding their offering and reaching further into the community. “We are aiming to perform for more and more people that wouldn’t usually set foot over a church,” said Bev, “to open up the doors of church for them.”
