June was a great month here at Winchester Young Carers, with our Young Carers enjoying the Exploration Programme sessions, some fabulous mid-term activities and the YCF to round up the month! We also had a brilliant time with our volunteers at this year’s Volunteer Summer Social!
21 of our Young Carers enjoyed a chilled Movie and Pizza Night this month at Winchester Vineyard Church. After voting on which movie to watch, we sat back to enjoy Pixar’s Inside Out and tucked into a few slices of pizza! The film was a hit with all the young people from 8 to 17 (and the adults!), laughing and feeling the feels throughout.
We also had our summer social this month, inviting volunteers to join us for a summer sports day! Whether participating in the events or spectating from the side-lines, our amazing volunteers were excellent sports, getting stuck in and having a great time together. After fuelling up on pizza and cakes, the events began! From the classic egg and spoon race to sack racing and hoop tossing, we split into 4 teams and competed for the gold medals. The social was a great opportunity to say a massive THANK YOU to our incredible team of volunteers who give their time and support, whether on the committee or weekly at our groups and activities. We couldn’t do what we do without them!
To wrap up a great month, we packed up our gear and set up camp at YMCA Fairthorne Manor for the Young Carers Festival 2023! This event is always a highlight of the year for us, getting to take a cohort of our young carers to experience the respite and fun of a weekend just for them. With fairground rides, sports activities, craft tents, music stages and more, 15 of our Young Carers spent the weekend chilling out and enjoying a festival designed to celebrate Young Carers from across the UK. The event gives nearly 1000 young people the chance to enjoy a break from their caring responsibilities, make new friends and have their voices heard on issues that affect them. A huge thank you to our amazing volunteers who supported us over the weekend and in particular Neal Allison, Social Value Manager at Osborne who has been a long-time supporter of the project, who stepped in to support our staff leader for both night’s camping and getting stuck into activities with the young people, helping them feel settled and included across the whole weekend.
What a month it’s been! We’ve had a fab June, enjoying a range activities and events together. Thank you again to the activity hosts and our volunteer team for making it possible for us to run the programmes for our awesome Young Carers.
Check out Osborne’s blog post here: https://www.osborne.co.uk/2023/07/12/osborne-supports-young-carers-festival/