YZUP hold Activity Days for Young People

17 August 2022

In April and May 2022 YZUP were able to deliver two activity days for their affected other young people.

This was done in quite small numbers but, a lot was gained in terms of outcomes for those young people.
There is lots of enthusiasm in the YZUP team to get these types of days and activities up and running again after little interest from young people during the pandemic and all of the restrictions making it very challenging to arrange and deliver activities.

YZUP now have a Youth Participation Lead (Naomi Richards) and part of their role is to take a lead on activity planning, organising and scoping out what they can do with young people safely and within a fairly small budget. This role includes support from the wider team and also looks at funding bids to enable more activity days to happen.

The first day was held on 19th April, during the Easter break and involved Paddleboarding and Mega Sup. The young people both enjoyed being playful and overcoming fears with support of participating staff. There was lots of laughter and the less confident young person also went back in the sea for a splash and swim after the activities had concluded.

The second day was held during the May half term and involved Kayaking and Paddleboarding. There was mix of abilities in this group from one young person who had attended several outdoor activities to another who had very little experience of outdoor activities especially in the sea. This presented challenges to the YZUP team in managing expectations and ensuring everyone had a good time. The instructor took this in their stride and approached the situation with humour and patience and everyone took part and had chance to be playful and laugh.

Quotes from the young people and the YZUP workers who attended highlight how much impact this had on everyone:

“My lad didn’t want to go home, he kept trying to prolong it. He said he really enjoyed it, especially the paddleboarding and would like to do it again over the summer.”

Comment from worker Jack

“Will we be doing this in the Summer?”

Young person

“E loved it and had lots of fun. E always wants to go, he has so much fun.”

Comment from worker Kye

“Can we do that again?”

Young person
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