On Tuesday 29th May four young people from our Employability Project (Paul, Donna, Thomas and Katlyn) set off with our worker Kelly for a two day residential with StreetGames at the Brathay Trust in Cumbria.

The young people had a very early start and set off at 6am from North Shields alongside another group of young people from TyneMet College.

It was a scorching 20 degrees when the young people arrived so they fitted in some sunbathing before meeting up with everyone else. They met with the entire group in the marquee and were split into 6 teams that they remained with for the rest of the trip. The teams were Iron Man, Black Widow, Flash, Wonder Woman, Black Panther and Batman. Donna and Katlyn were in team Iron Man, Paul was in Batman and Thomas was part of Black Widow’s team.

After being put into their teams the young people started the activities with Thomas raft building and Katlyn, Paul and Donna taking part in Ghyll scrambling.  Thomas did a great job in his team offering suggestions and negotiating a final idea for how the raft would look, and it floated! Unfortunately Thomas fell off the raft but after some encouragement he swam back to it and climbed back aboard and paddled back to shore with his team.  The other three young people from Silx were given the chance to jump into a rock pool and Paul led his team, he was complimented for his excellent leadership skills. Katlyn also took on the role of group leader in her team and helped them to complete the challenge.

In the evening the young people took part in a variety of activities lead by the young advisors who were made up of a group of previous years volunteers. The young people had to dress up one member of their team and recreate Meghan Markle’s wedding dress! Team Iron man won this challenge! After this Donna took to the stage and danced infront of a small group of volunteers which was a big achievement for Donna and was the talk of the centre the next day.

The next day the young people were up bright and early to tuck into a fry up! They then had an energizer with the young advisors which included a rendition of the cha cha slide, then they were ready to begin the days activities. Donna, Paul and Katlyn were raft building- Paul and his team got their raft back to safety but unfortunately Katlyn and Donna’s fell apart when it hit the water, they sacrificed Kelly to test it out and it sank about 20 feet from the shore!

The young people then went on a Whaler boat which involved all ten members of the team paddling together across the water for an Ice Cream! Katlyn enjoyed this activity and did really well despite initially being worried about going on the water.

That evening Katlyn, Paul and Thomas climbed a mountain in their groups following different routes and then meeting at the top. Thomas struggled as he carried the safety bag all the way to the top to help one of his team mates, staff were very impressed with him as he was originally very reluctant to go on the walk but joined his team in the end. The young people enjoyed taking in the breathtaking views at the top of the mountain and took lots of photos, for lots of the young people this was their favourite activity.

Thomas said; ‘I feel a lot better that I completed the whole walk up the hill’

Katlyn added; ‘I walked all the way up the mountain and all the way down, even though Paul left in the middle’

Paul said; ‘My favourite thing to see was that amazing view at the top of the mountain’  

  

The day was rounded off with a bonfire and the young people chilled out and chatted about their experiences with their new friends from other youth projects in Coventry, Wales, Leeds and Hartlepool. This was followed by a closing party.

The young people sat down with Kelly and debriefed the trip, discussing highlights, challenging moments and things they were proud of. The young people were all in agreement that this was an incredible opportunity and they will remember this trip forever. They all grew in confidence ad enjoyed being challenged and meeting new people!

What a fantastic opportunity for our young people, thank you StreetGames!