Summer 2023 Activities So Far
Week 1
Breakfast Club Monday
40 parents and children attended our first breakfast club of the summer.
"Great event my grandson wanted to come again this morning"
Football Pop-ups Wednesday and Friday
32 at East Beacon Lough and 65 at Saltwell Park enjoyed four hours of football and an excellant buffet from the Schooner.
Boxing Tuesday
A group of lads Ben works with from Bensham decided to try out as Rocky courtesy of Go the Distance Community Boxing Club in Durham.
Gardening Thursday
Thank you to the Schooner for letting us host our gardening and crafting session under cover from the rain.
Week 2
Anyone for Tennis Monday
22 Children took part in the Foundations first ever Tennis picnic session at Saltwell Park.
Football Camps Tuesday - Thursday
It would not be summer without the Foundation Football camps enjoyed by 150 children who were also able to take a breather and watch the first team train.
Hall Hill Farm Trip Friday
Week 2 comes to an end with 50 parents and children visiting the farm.
Week 3
Its Tennis Monday
Our 3rd week started with our second tennis session of the summer with 28 attendees.
Tuesday Round 2 Boxing
The lads were back at Go the Distance Community Boxing Club in Durham for some more boxing training.
Wednesday and Friday Football Pop-ups
Two more football Pop-ups at Felling Park and back to East Beacon Lough. Word must be getting out as over 50 attendees at each session.
Thursday Family Trip
The next family trip was to Jesmond Dene where we bumped into a bear and Ben could not resist a game of football.
Friday breakfast club
Our second breakfast club of the summer went down a storm with 38 attending. Thats to Emily and Paul our volunteers for helping out.
Week 4
Monday Breakfast club
Another great Breakfast club on Monday A little rain didn’t dampen the spirits at The Breakfast and Fun. Best brekkie went to little Frankie with her cereal and strawberries. And of course who couldn’t resist our bacon and sausage sarnies and our yummy Belgium waffles. Lots of fun and food!
Monday Football
The labs from Bensham played their first invitation match against North Cote Youth Initiative at Soccerworld Newcastle.
Tuesday - Thursday Football Camps
Our second session of football camps for 50+ children a day went down a storm.
Friday Alnwick Gardens/Lilidorei
What a day out at Alnwick Gardens and Lilidorei. We had a full house with 63 attendees on our free community outing. As you can see Clarky enjoyed himself!
‘Great trip today, thank you. The boys were super chuffed to get Ben on the big slide.’ Lisa H
A huge thank you to Alnwick Gardens, L&G Coaches, The Schooner, The Ballinger Trust and everyone who came along and made this such a wonderful day.
Week 5
Monday Story Telling
Who says that ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’. We had loads of fun today with storytelling, animal puppets, dancing, games and crafting.
Thanks to the wonderful Julie Outterside for leading the session, The Schooner for another fabulous lunch, our amazing volunteer Emily and the lovely Andy at Gateshead Central Library. Lastly a huge thank you to The Ballinger Trust.
Tuesday Boxing
Our last session of the Summer with Go The Distance. A big thankyou to Tesco and NE Youth for their support and to the Lord Mayors of Gateshead and Durham for attending giving the participants their certificates.
A pecial thankyou to the Lord Mayor of Gateshead for presenting Jo with her Premier League Community Captain award for all the work that Joodes in the Community on behalf of the Foundation.
Wednesday Football Pop-up
Our first visit to Carr Hill for our Wednesday Football pop-up with over 30 attendees. Great to see the parents staying and making ino a picnic.
Thursday Fairies
Who knew there were fairies at the bottom of the garden? What a magical day we have had at our free Fairy Tea Party. We had story time, face painting, wand making, cake decorating and fairy peg doll making, finishing with a lovely tea party and making a special fairy garden. Thank you everyone who attended, our wonderful storyteller Julie and her fabulous assistant Emily. A special thank you to Bensham Grove Community Centre especially the lovely Chris and Denise and lastly to our funder The Ballinger Trust and our special friends at The National Literacy Trust.
Friday Breakfast Club and Football Pop-up
Another lovely Breakfast and Fun Club. Lots of lovely food, crafts, colouring, football, skipping and biscuit decorating. As always, thank you to the wonderful Bensham Grove Community Centre and The Ballinger Trust, our lovely volunteer Emily and a very special thank you to Ellen, Kathryn, Steph and Erin from Newcastle Building Society who very kindly gave their time to volunteer today. It was a pleasure to meet you ladies and we look forward to seeing you again.
Unfortunately the Pop-up only lasted an hour before the rain came and we all ended up like drownded rats. A big thank you to Brighten the Day for supporting us with our summer Pop-ups.
Week 6
Tuesday Tour of St James
Happy birthday to the wonderful organisation Success for Work, a project helping young people with additional needs to create an independent future through employability skills, life skills, social activities and employment opportunities. The Foundation has been working with them for a little while now and wanted to celebrate, starting off at Shearer's Bar for cake and soft drinks, followed by a fantastic tour of The Cathedral on the Hill, St. James’ Park, home of Newcastle United our second favourite team before Gateshead FC of course). A big thank you to the 25 young people that attended, Ballers Den for their support on the day, Manager Kylie and team at Shearer’s Bar for making us so welcome and Newcastle United Tours, particularly our fab tour guides Keith and Liv.
Wednesday Crafting at the Baltic
Did your hear the Dinosaur ROAR from The Baltic today! The Stompysaurus wasn’t too happy but we had loads of fun reading the story with The Foundation’s brilliant Storyteller Julie Outterside and Creative Assistant Emily. As the story is about children’s anxiety, we made Worry Catchers, created dinosaur bracelets, made dino puppets and ended with a game of bounce the Worry Monster. We gave away some wonderful storybooks and lots of yummy packed lunches. Thank you so much to our friends at The Baltic for such a lovely venue overlooking the river Tyne, our lovely caterers at The Schooner, The National Literacy Trust and finally to everybody that attended our activities over the summer. The Foundation has had a blast.