Life at PYCP has been as busy as ever and Senior Project Worker Laura McLaren told us “We had a packed 5 week summer programme for children and young people aged 5-18. We chose a different theme each week; “discovery week”, “residential week”, “art attack”, “move it week” and “fun week”. This included building based activities such as mask making, drumming, zumba, circus skills and an “It’s a Knockout” competition.”
The local project also organised a range of trips, to places such as Almond Valley, the cinema at Ocean Terminal and “World of Soccer”, as well as residentials to the Innerwick Centre at Dunbar and Loch Tay. PYCP also worked with a range of other agencies such as Pilton Equalities Project, where they helped with gardening and provided a series of events as part of the Play Practitioners Forum, where children from other agencies came to participate in arts and crafts and basketball. Theyalso had several teams in the over 12’s area wide treasure hunt, “The Quest”.
Laura continued “Our open access programme continues to engage high numbers of young people, with 22 different clubs and groups a week. We have had some exciting new developments in our term time programme, with a new project called “Positive Pathways” that aims to support young people into volunteering opportunities, particularly within PYCP. We also have a new group work programme funded by the Cattanach Trust, where pupils from Forthview Primary School are referred for additional support. We have also built upon our sexual health and relationship programme of support and are now offering tailored sessions to local agencies. This initiative began with a very successful project with young mums at Stepping Stones.”
“As well as raising funds for specific projects, we continue to organise one off sponsored and community events. In July, Mark Hunter who is one of our Youth and Children’s Workers, along with his Friends Dave Girvan and Mark Roper, completed a gruelling 142 mile sponsored cycle from Aberdeen to Edinburgh. A total of £1200.00 was raised, with all proceeds going to activities for service users of PYCP. We also raised £200.00 collecting before and after the match at a Hibs game in September.”
The next fundraising event is a Christmas Fair, on Friday 9th December from 12-2.00pm, where there will be a craft stall, a home baking stall, a raffle and a café. We are also holding a competition for children and young people at PYCP to design a Christmas card and the winning entries will be printed and on sale at the Fair. We hope to see you there”
For more information on the vast services available at PYCP give them a call on 332 9815.
