We had an incredible summer!

Thanks to the Department of Education and Blackpool Council for supporting our holiday work through the Holidays’ & Activity Fund.

Here’s what Trisha, our Senior Youth Worker, and Gemma our Youth & Community Worker had to say about it:

Trisha:

Summer 2023, well where did that go!?! What a Great 6 weeks filled with fun and laughter!

We explored Blackpool Zoo where we found hundreds of animals, Flamingos, Pelicans, Big Cats. The list is endless. We played foot Golf where we competed around the green trying for a hole in one! Lots of close calls, such a fun afternoon. We then climbed to the highest heights on the ropes course at Blackpool sport centre, fears were faced with the climbing but still had an exciting time. 

Our Seniors tried out our new activity at Commando Rugby School which was a fantastic afternoon on the slip and slide, zip wire, man hurt, nerf battle and more. We also had a fun day in Lancaster with LAGBC, boarding down the mountains, pillow fighting, and lots of zorbing. It rained most of the day. However, that didn’t put our seniors off the weather where they then battled the slopes at -6 at Manchester Chill factor where they learnt new skills snowboarding. For the first half hour we sat on the snow, but in no time got our balance and boarded like a pro. 

Our senior group completed their DofE expedition and grew from strength to strength with gaining knowledge and understanding of orienteering, tent making, and cooking skills. Highlights were finding the campsite after a day’s walking,getting to know eachother better. Also, making their own food on the stoves; hot chocolate custard and granola didn’t go down well with everyone.. 

Another highlight of seniors was our spa night exploring different ways of self care. A chance to relax, designing and painting their nails, face mask, and smoothie making. Strawberry and banana was certainly a favourite. 

 An additional highlight was the board games night. A chance to learn new games and share with others tricks and techniques. 

We had the chance to work with the Hard Rock team learning how to use our electronics in setting up and cleaning away. It was fun jamming along as a team learning new songs.    

As always our Toast and Jam sessions with the Juniors were bouncing, making lyrics into songs and slowly creating our album with Hard Rock. We are very excited to see the finishing product. 

During club time we had endless fun. Arts and crafts afternoons, learning new skills such as circus tricks, how to hold a snake, working as a team completing assault courses, making boats, Karate lesson, Parachutes, aeroplane making, bingo and making stronger friendships. 

 It was great spending so much time together and it allowed us to dance our way through summer with a session from the house of wings where we learnt different styles of dance, hip hop, street and break dancing. Luckily nothing was broken so we were able to continue with our just dance Athlon where most of our juniors requested to just dance at the end of club to keep us active.  

This summer we ran our first ever Year 6 transition sessions. We looked at how to start high school smoothly. We focused on coping strategies when things get too hard. We learnt some relaxation techniques. We studied abbreviated words which they may find on their timetables and bus timetables too. The young people said this was really helpful and having fed back what they had learnt has made them feel more confident starting their first weeks of high school. 

We spent some time away from the club and as always a highlight, seeing the surroundings that we live in and exploring further. Our young people were fab and got involved with everything. We roamed wild in the fields at the gathering farms making paint by the river side, dens and tasting wild raspberries on our walks. We even picked blackberries and made homemade jam which we had on our ice cream around the campfire while toasting marshmallows and having hot chocolate from the strove. 

Our Seniors spent a couple nights away at Kepplewray- learning new skills such as knot tying, swimming and making beds! Our first day we nurtured our team work skills carrying out crate building…22 was the highest and oh boy, it was a long way down!

Archery, abseiling was fun and to finish the day with a slip and slide. We spent the following day in Coniston, learning how to canoe, jumping off boulders and swimming. The weather was great and three hours of swimming felt like only twenty minutes. So much fun and many giggles had by all. Later in the afternoon we went ghyll scrambling where the giggles went a bit more serious, but as confidence grew the silence of the trees were met with roars of laughter as the fear disappeared when jumping in the pools. Such a fantastic time encouraging one another and enjoying the outdoors!!   

Gemma:

This Summer we undertook our third Play Street on Clifford Road, Claremont. The weather was kind to us and we enjoyed hula hooping and chalking bright and colourful pictures on the floor. The sight of children playing on the street even brought out a fair few adults who relived memories of their childhood playing skipping and hopscotch! We look forward to many more in the future, and even though the weather may not be as forthcoming, it will definitely not stop us from having fun!

In mid-August we hosted a Uniform Swap Shop in the club. Parents, carers and members of the community donated new and used items of school uniforms, shoes and coats. This proved extremely useful to some of our parents, and we still have a selection of these if anyone requires anything over the coming months. 

At the end of July, senior Magic Club members started planning for the Social Action Project. Ten young people planned, prepped and delivered three projects over August which included spreading positivity with brightly coloured pebbles in and around Claremont, placing them where neighbours peer to spread a little bit of cheer! They also cooked a range of meals for Streetlife, a young person’s homeless charity in Blackpool. The young people donned their chef’s attire and rustled up some amazing enchiladas and bolognese. Not only did they help towards a cause they were very passionate about but they also honed in on their kitchen skills.

Also, the residents of Claremont may have noticed a brightly coloured neon structure at Claremont Community Centre?? This wonder was where early morning storytelling was transformed into an energetic singalong with Mama G and sound baths rang in the distance, transforming a quiet Claremont night into a tranquil retreat. Well… this was also where our young people, in partnership with Left Coast and Morag Mysercouogh, delivered an empowerment workshop at the installation, ‘These People Are Our Kinship!’. Loaded with cakes, craft materials and lots of energy they ran a two hour workshop making friendship bracelets, origami flowers and mini beast keychains, all whilst asking the community to help decorate the inside with words of positivity.

All the young people involved in the six week project worked extremely hard and did themselves, and their community, proud! Furthermore, alongside their project they were able to have their achievements formally recognised and earnt themselves an AQA Unit Award Scheme accreditation in ‘Participating in Social Action’ enabling them to build up a portfolio of certificates to evidence their skills, knowledge and experience.