Its hard to believe that summer has been and gone and that the young people have all returned to school. We know how difficult the past 18 months had been on our young people and we wanted them to have a fantastic summer with us once restrictions were eased so we organised a fun packed summer programme with trips and activities for them all to enjoy. The majority of the activities were FREE or heavily subsidised by the organisation to make them accessible to all.
We kicked off the Summer with a trip to the ever popular Override, Override is an indoor skatepark in Jarrow and is very popular with the young people who enjoy using their scooters and skateboards. We took a group on 17th July and they had a great time showing off their tricks and jumps, we were all very impressed. We have a great relationship with the guys at override and the young people always have a really good time whilst they are there.
The next trip was a trip to Whitley Bay Ice rink, we have visited here lots of times and it still remains a very popular trip with the young people. We took 12 young people to show off their moves on the ice and we didn’t have anyone fall on the bum which is a bonus!
The 27th July took the young people just along the road to the incredibly popular AirBox Bounce, this was one of two trips to this venue over the holidays and both times the places were filled up very quickly. Workers were very impressed with the flips and tricks a number of the young people could do on the trampolines.
On 5th August, we had an early start and set off to Dukeshouse wood in Hexham for a day full of adventure. The young people had a fantastic day in the sun taking part in Jacobs Ladder, The leap of faith, Laser Tag and the 3G Swing. The young people were all incredibly brave and all had the best time.
Sunday 15th August saw the young people taking part in the Clarty Bairns Mud Run in Durham, they all worked incredibly well to get round the course and encouraged each other throughout and of course they got very, very muddy!
Tuesday 17th August saw the return of our annual trip to Flamingoland with our friends from Newsham and New Delaval youth forum. This trip is always the highlight of Summer with the young people and is really popular, this year being no exception with over 50 young people in attendance from across both youth groups. We set off at 7:30am so the young people could spend the whole day enjoying the thrill of the rides. The behaviour from all of the young people was excellent and we all had a fantastic day!
The Summer fun didn’t stop with Flamingoland; on 26th August we visited Mr Mulligan’s Space golf in Newcastle. The young people were split into two teams to head around the ‘epic’ space themed golf course.
The young people continued their summer adventures at Laser Quest in Sunderland on 29th August, this is always a fun day out and the young people enjoyed battling it out in the sci fi theme battlezone.
The adventures didn’t stop there and the next stop was Pirate Escape, Whitley Bay. The young people had to work together against the clock to escape from Mutiny and the Forbidden Jungle.
The young people finished off their jam packed summer with a final visit to Air Box bounce on Sunday 5th September. I am sure you all agree that we have had an exceptionally great summer and the young people are all incredibly grateful to have been given these opportunities after over a year of missing out on fun with their friends. The trips and activities will continue throughout the year so keep checking our blog and social media pages to see what we get up to!