Girton Youth Project - Summer 2006

 

Once again the 10 days of summer programme was a massive success, and this was all because of the young people that attended. A fortnight of activities based at the Pavilion were run by Darryl McMurray (Daz), Joe Beddow (Dodgy Joe) and Hannah Flitton (Span) who were praised by parents as 'friendly, welcoming and enthusiastic leaders'. A big thank must also go out to Billy Beddow (Billy Boy), Euan Stone and Scott (Scotty) Morley who gave up some of their time to help out during the second week.

Although the weather let us down somewhat, the enthusiasm and energy showed by the children was fantastic. A number of activities on the timetable were shuffled around due to the weather, but this did not affect the excitement and fun we all had.

Day two saw the children trying their hand at some circus skills including juggling, plate spinning, Diablo and a unicycle. What great fun this was, all the children tried each activity and then picked their favourite one to practice. Towards the end of the session we had a mini circus show, which gave each person a chance to show what they had learnt. I have to say that there are definitely some who belong in the circus for one reason or another!

For the second year running we organised a trip to Mepal Outdoor Centre, which again was a brilliant day. The groups tried out several different activities including archery, rock climbing and raft building. Some the children also tried the high ropes, and there were definitely some wobbly knees and some calls of "mummy" during the activity!

During the week the children had a chance to touch and hold some really interesting animals such as a chameleon, three different types of snakes including an albino boa constrictor which was 5 metres long and weighed around 6 stone, that I had the pleasure of holding! There was also one other creepy crawly there that no-one wanted to hold except for me, this was a bird eating spider which was the size of a grown mans hand! Unfortunately time ran out and I was unable to hold it!

After putting one particular activity off several times due to the weather the day came when we could finally do Den Building. The children were split into four teams and were given the same equipment. As a team they had to plan and build a den that could withstand an attack from water bombs while teams were inside their dens! The groups worked really well in their teams and built some impressive dens. The dens even managed to keep the teams dry when attacked by the water bombs, until someone exploded one inside the dens that is!!

A second trip was organised to go to the Sea Life Centre in Gt. Yarmouth. Once again, the children were all really well behaved and enjoyed seeing the turtles get feed. Some even got the chance to hold a crab and a star fish. After the tour we went onto the beach and had a sand castle competition, until it decided to rain. There were so many other activities that went on such as games on space hoppers, mini Olympics, scrapheap challenge and problem solving. Each and every activity was made better by the effort and behaviour of all the children that attended.

And so the final day came and not a lot of you know this but when everyone had left Billy Boy, Scotty and Euan each shed a tear of joy and said "We're gonna miss those crazy kids!"

Back to the final day, as with last year we decided to go with a Family Picnic/BBQ and this year we were a little more prepared for the rain with two gazebos. Fortunately they weren't needed as the weather was fantastic and hot. We had two inflatable activities, an assault course and a gladiators ring. The gladiators ring saw children and parents go head-head to decide who rules and who would do the washing up. I pretty sure that the children won most of the games, so parents get your marigolds on and start washing up!!

The day was a huge success with over 60 people attending. We did not expect this many and even had to go and buy some more food! A big thank you goes out to all the parents that were so kind as to bring some goodies with them including my favourite, fairy cakes which were delicious.

As I said at the beginning, the whole two weeks was great fun for all including the leaders. A massive thank you and well done goes out to all the children that attended the activities, it wouldn't have been what it was without you. So please keep showing your support and coming to other activities.

back to home page

back to Girton Youth Project