In 2022 Amelia was talking to her granny, Gil Duval from Saint John Henry Newman Parish in High Wycombe about how to raise money to go to World Youth Day in Portugal in the summer of 2023. they were both brain storming ideas. Because Gil knew Amelia was into craft, and also remembered seeing some old paschal candles at church, she wondered whether they could be up cycled! Gil decided to ask permission to use them from the parish priest, Fr Jonathan Hill. Together Amelia and Gil came up with the idea to create some scented tea-lights which they could sell. As Amelia says,
“I’ll give anything a go to raise some money!!!”
The first challenge was to break the candles down into meltable shards and this involved a hammer and a chisel! After Amelia managed to break them, she melted them and added some essential oils and colouring.
Once the tea lights were set, she wrapped and decorated them with sprigs of lavender and a ribbon, ready for sale. Friends at church snapped up these re-purposed holy candles, and Amelia raise £100 towards her trip to Lisbon where she says she “had a life changing experience – together with the one and a half million other young people”.