PRAISE party maestro, songwriter and children’s worker Doug Horley visited St James Church, Emsworth, to inspire families with his Bubble Party.

Popularly known as ‘Duggie Dug Dug’, he has an amazing history as a children’s minister and praise leader, and has become well known for hosting ‘praise parties’ for children. He and his friend Professor Poop ran their Crazy Science Show in two local primary schools and then a Bubble Party at the church. All three events were absolutely packed out.

The parish’s pioneer minister the Rev Bruce Watson said: “It was action-packed, fun-filled activity from start to finish. In the schools we saw some really fun and jaw-dropping experiments using dry ice and other chemicals to explore energy, gases and the power of air. The idea was to help the children and staff appreciate our amazing God through the incredible world that He’s made.

“Over 240 people came to the Bubble Party on Friday evening. There were smoke-filled bubbles, soaring helium-filled bubbles, bubble sculptures, bubbles in bubbles and even children in bubbles! Doug managed to put Lizzie Davidson, our curate, into a bubble too! It was a spectacular praise party that young and old absolutely loved.”

The event was organised by children and youth worker Jacqui Watson. She had seen Doug working with children before and knew he’d go down well with families in this area. He did a one-hour session in each of the local primary schools, linking Science and RE with experiments, songs and some fun.