The summertime has been a great period for young people engaging with the Hang Out team in Barnsley. For almost a whole year the team had been longing for the summer months and as expected young people were turning out in numbers to take part in the summer activities provided by The Youth Association. From the beginning of July right up until mid September a variety of activities kept young people (and staff!) very busy.
Creativity
The annual ‘Tramlines festival’ held in Sheffield was the first activity on offer this summer. Young people from various areas came together to see singers, bands and other artists perform at the main stage on Devonshire Green. Acts included Olly Murs, Vanessa Amorosi, Gabriella Cilmi, The Wanted and Beatbullyz. And a huge thanks goes out to Hallam FM for the ‘queue-jump’ wristbands. Cheers guys!!
Young people from Worsbrough struck gold in August when graffiti artist and youth worker Matt turned up to Worsbrough Park. Funnily enough the Hang Out team had with them a box of spray cans, some wooden boards pre-coated with emulsion, some protective clothing, masks and vinyl gloves! There was no choice but to deliver a whole afternoon of graffiti lessons with young people from the area. Each young person designed and sprayed their own board and took them home to keep. Fortunately, the team managed to salvage one to keep back at Manvers house for display purposes. Young people were also given a disposable camera each so they could take photos of their progress. A great day all around (even when Etoile’s car battery later went flat!)
Meanwhile, another group of young people from Worsbrough had decided that they wanted to design and put together a web page. The Youth Association Hang Out team booked some time in with in-house Multimedia Designer Phil, who spent time with the young people planning the site. They are now ready to purchase the web space and to start putting it all together.
‘My friends in Vegas’ is a band made up of five young men who had also been engaging with the Hang Out team for some time. They had been together for less than a year and most of them had never spent time in a professional recording studio before. As part of the Arts/Music work, the team organised from the band to spend two days at Loom Studio in Birstall, where they recorded and mixed one track. The track sounds great! Everybody has been really impressed with its quality as well as the talent of the band.
Sports
As a result of numerous football programmes in the Goldthorpe (Dearne) area earlier in 2010, a group of approximately 15 young people decided to form their own team. In June/July the Dearne Hang Out team provided a training session for them every Tuesday night at the recreation ground. The lads’ ages range from 15 upwards and their dedication shone through when they attended every week without fail.
Meanwhile, the Monk Bretton team were having there own sports activities during July/August. Every Friday and Saturday night, youth workers would set up games of rounders and games of football on Silverdale Park and Rotherham Road field.
The activities were well attended and enjoyed. One group of young people had heard about the Goldthorpe football team and expressed an interest in playing against them. As a result, a small tournament was organised for all the young people.
The tournament took place in Kendray. Three teams took part – two from Goldthorpe and one from Monk Bretton. It was a really positive evening enjoyed thoroughly by all who attended. The games got off to a feisty start with each team wanting to out-do the other. This soon settled into a set of good-spirited matches. A team from Goldthorpe won the tournament and were presented with a trophy and some medals afterwards in a presentation in the centre. A man-of-the-match was also selected by the referee. All teams shook hands afterwards and they’re now looking forward to more football programmes in future.
A weekend away
The camping residential came about after young people from the Dearne area were put through a brilliant survival skills day back in May with the detached team. They decided to pursue the camping route as this is want the young people wanted and the aim was to teach them life skills. Young people from Goldthorpe, Bolton on Dearne and Mapplewell attended. Youth workers and young people discussed the ground rules on the mini bus journey and each young person chose a role they would do over the weekend. Here are a couple of examples of what the group did.
Putting up tents
Everyone was put into groups of two with whom they would share a tent with for the night. This was discussed between all the young people so nobody was put with someone they felt uncomfortable with, but most people got on really well. We found that some young people were having a bit of trouble putting up the tents, so we all pulled together and worked as a team with the experience in the group.
Assault course and Zip wire
All the young people really enjoyed the assault course and got quite competitive at times but they worked well together to help those who were struggling or were scared. The zip wire was a huge success. Two of the young people taking part were scared of heights and faced their fears.
Overall the weekend was a huge achievement for the young people, who don’t usually go out of their area or mix with other young people. It highlighted their strengths and made them think about their future more and where they want to be.
Current work
The Hang Out team in Barnsley is still in the middle of work on a street-based film, which focuses on sexual health. Young people have been getting involved in the planning of the film, as well as giving interviews and putting together a narration for it. The film is due to be edited in the coming weeks. Look out for it on the website!!
Great results!
Overall in Barnsley 131 young people have taken part in the summer programme of activities. 82 of these young people have taken part in our activity programmes for the first time. 29 young people have completed an OCN accreditation. We hope for much more of this to come in the future!
Dmitry
