Show children the theatre with the Victorian street scene backdrop Hello, children. Does anyone know what this is? (Wait for responses) This is a theatre. Using this theatre today we are going to learn about someone very special who lived in Victorian times. Ask Does anyone know what Victorian means? Victorian means during the time that Queen Victoria was Queen of England more than 150 years ago. Times were very different then and there were no aeroplanes, computers or televisions. These things hadn’t been invented yet. In those days life was harder for a lot of people. If people were very poor and had no work often they had no money to buy food or clothes. ● Introduce William Booth figure This is William Booth. He lived when Victoria was Queen. Here he is standing in a street in London more than 100 years ago. Ask Do you notice anything different about his clothes or about the buildings? Today I’m going to tell you the story of how William loved to help people. In fact, he loved helping people so much that he started The Salvation Army. When William was a young man he worked in a shop. He began to notice how many people there were who were poor and who didn’t have enough money for food and clothes and had nowhere to stay. William really wanted to help these people. William had become a Christian when he was a teenager. Being a Christian means that William believed in Jesus Christ. William wanted to help people just like Jesus did. When William grew older he gave up his job and became a preacher. This meant that he started to teach people about God and about following Jesus. In the Bible we read about how Jesus helped people whom no one else wanted to help.

Here is William teaching people about God in a theatre. Ask Can you see William? How many people do you think are listening to him speak? Is there an answer? Lots of people came to hear William in the theatre, but he spoke in lots of other places too, like outside in the street, in big tents, in music halls and dance halls. One day, when he was preaching in London, William met a lovely lady called Catherine. Introduce figure of Catherine William and Catherine fell in love and, two years later, they got married. Ask Is anyone here married? (Wait for a possible giggly response!) And they had 8 children! Can you imagine that? Ask Put your hand up if you have brothers or sisters? Who would like to have seven brothers and sisters? Even though lots of people came to listen to William speak he found that teaching people about Jesus Christ wasn’t enough. He wanted to do something to help people who were poor and unhappy. In London 150 years ago there were a lot of very poor people.

Ask Can you imagine having nowhere to live and nowhere to sleep Ask Can you imagine having nowhere to live and nowhere to sleep? Or not having any clothes to wear? Or not having any food to eat? (Wait for response) Well, William and Catherine both really wanted to help people who lived on the streets and didn’t have anywhere to sleep or any food to eat. They decided to start a different kind of church so that they could tell poor people about God and help them to become Christians. They also wanted it to be a church that helped people in need. They named this church The Salvation Army and helped people who needed food and somewhere safe to sleep. This is one of the first buildings they opened in London where people could get food and a place to sleep.

William and Catherine really wanted to help the children too William and Catherine really wanted to help the children too. They started farthing breakfasts where poor, hungry children could get a breakfast before they went to school. In those days a lot of families were so poor that the children had nothing for breakfast. William Booth wanted to make the breakfast cheap so all of the children could afford to eat. Ask Does anybody know what a farthing is? (Wait for response) A farthing was the smallest amount of money 150 years ago. In today’s money that is about 50p. A farthing breakfast was a little round loaf cut into three slices with margarine on one, then jam on the next one, then margarine on the top one and a mug of cocoa to drink. The children could have as much cocoa as they wanted until the supplies ran out. All this cost them just a farthing. William and Catherine did lots of other amazing things to help people. Many other people loved what they were doing and joined The Salvation Army so that they could help too. The Salvation Army has been getting bigger and bigger ever since. Today The Salvation Army has lots of members and it is helping people in more than 120 countries - places like Japan, Canada, Pakistan, France and Australia and many more!

Introduce Salvation Army Officer characters Here are some Salvation Army officers (ministers). They work in a church and also help people who live in their area in lots of different ways. They might visit people who are old or sick, or, like William and Catherine did, help people who don’t have any work or anywhere to live. ● Introduce standup image of van Sometimes if something really bad happens - like a flood or a fire – The Salvation Army will be there to help the people who are hurt or the people who are helping, like the firemen and police officers. We have a special van (show emergency van) and helpers who give them food and drink and comfort them if they would like someone to talk to. Members of The Salvation Army worship God and try to be like Jesus by helping people. Ask Put your hand up if you help at school or home. Ask What kind of things do you do to help? (Allow 5 or 6 children to respond) Sometimes we help people because we really care about them and The Salvation Army is just the same. We want to help people because we care for them. Ask I wonder if anyone has any questions about The Salvation Army? (Allow as many of the children as possible to ask you their questions) Make sure the story doesn’t upset the children, eg, sensitive handling of nowhere to sleep, nothing to eat,etc.

The End