Summer holidays can be a long stretch, and over in Sheffield, the community in our anchor neighbourhood, Wybourn, often tell us of the need for more activities for families and children.
The Pat Midgley Community Hub is a hotbed of activity these days, being home to the Pat Midgley Community Foundation – now an independent charity – as well as our very own employability programme, Wybourn Works. With both groups being well-placed to arrange activities that everyone in the community will enjoy, the two joined forces alongside our Community Partnerships Manager, Melanie King, to provide a series of summer holiday sessions.
The result was four weekly jam-packed sessions, which also brought in some of our partners.
The first three weekly sessions began with sports day-style activities over at Skye Edge fields (a short walk from the Pat Midgely Hub), organised by Wybourn Works’ Ben Kanyama and Mandy Green along with our partners ‘Power to Succeed’.
Families who enjoyed the fun then made their way down to the Pat Midgley Community Hub, where a grab-bag lunch made by Centre Coordinator, Rebecca, and volunteer, Nicola, was waiting for them. After a refuel, it was onto the next activity, which was different each week…
Week one brought in volunteer Hayley, who ran her much enjoyed arts and crafts session; participants made their own windmills and decorated pencil cases (ready for September!)
Week two was about all things magic, as familiar face Barney Baloney entertained everyone with his magic tricks and monkey puppet.
And week three tapped back into everyone’s creativity, with Rosey from ‘Steam Works’ running a fun session on making trebuchets and building dens.
All of this culminated in a full Sports Day held in week four, again at the Skye Edge fields. Classic games included the old egg and spoon race, a sack race – and of course, lots of running around. Our Wybourn Works team (who also gained new recruits with parents attending the sessions) were on hand to provide fruit cups as well as pizza and hot dogs for the well-deserving participants, and everyone who took part received a medal at the end of the day.
The summer sessions were a great success, providing an accessible mixture of creative activities and outdoor fun – and they show what can be achieved through partnership working and real community spirit. As Community Partnership Manager, Melanie King, attested:
“By bringing fun free activities to our community, we’re creating opportunities for families to come together, have fun and make positive memories without breaking the bank. None of this would have been possible without the great partnership between Community Investment, Wybourn Works and the Pat Midgley Community Hub Foundation.”
