The family funday was absolutely brilliant and jam packed! It all kicked off with the obstacle course/race with our star contestant Lilly, who is only 6 years old but took part in ALL our games! This was followed by more exciting games like the wheelchair race, which was....dangerous! But oh so hilarious!
Then I sat down with some of the residents and asked them how they enjoyed the day, they said that they loved it and that we didn't stop making them laugh :D
I am looking forward to maybe having a similar event with them again!
Having been reminded that I was one of the oldest YAT members that had not blogged and who had delayed blogging for a couple of weeks now, made me feel like I should blog with a bang. So here it is and I hope it makes a bang!
Youth action team members with descriptions
Adonis: The official YAT’s musician.
Alex: If its legally blonde, its legally Alex; the YAT lawyer.
Faeezah: The YAT spy, has eyes and ears in most places, she really does.
George: The YAT blog king, twitter wiz and all the above.
Kyrylo: The Karate kid; YAT’s first line of defence.
Lauren: The pink YAT bunny.
Umair: The YAT wizard; has a wand like Harry Potter.
Randy: TheYAT charm weapon.
Rebecca: The YAT motivator, no slacking escapes her gaze.
Sachin: The YAT health & safety man. (he also re-invented humour)
Tasfeah: The YAT volunteer magnet, she floats like a butterfly but stings like a bee.
Nisha: She looks like one of the YAT members, but don’t let the young looks fool you!
Sadia: The most persuasive person in the world, or is that just me?
The Legacy
Over the lengthy period that I have been with the YAT I have witnessed members leave and new members arrive, this is all while the diversity and unity of the team has remained unhindered. This is credit to the quality of individuals that have joined the team, each bringing with them a set of unique skills. So much so the team have become one of the most productive and advanced YAT in the country and possibly beyond. (sources; Sadia & Nisha)
Over the past 2 years the YAT have delivered the following events;
Million: An event to showcase local talent and promote volunteering
Particip8 2 Activ8: A sports day/games day in Loxford park
The Big silly sleep walk: A walk through Valentines park in order to raise money for the dream factory.
Due to the success of each of these individual events external bodies have now approached the YAT in order to attain experienced event planning skills from the team in order to facilitate and aid in the production of the following events;
Frenford’s summer Jam
Old people’s home Fun day
The fusion
Currently the YAT have joined forces with the Youth Committee (YC), this collaboration is to bring together an event called Frenfords summer jam. This event is to celebrate and promote Frenford clubs move to a new location and what they have achieved in their time at their current location.
The YAT team have also recently been involved in delivering a Family fun day at Jewish Care VI & John Ruben's House. The event was another accomplishment for the YAT as many residence and families had an enjoyable time.
The future
The YAT’s future may be hanging in the balance due to the election of a Conservative government. The previous Labour government only supplied funding for a couple of years; this funding is due to end and when it does it is unknown whether the Conservative government will provide any further funding for the programme.
Will BTCV & V-involved be provided with extra funding,
The meeting on the 7th was my first in a while after taking a temporary hiatus as a consequence of a depressing exam schedule, and it’s remarkable that in that short space of time two disparate sets of individuals could gel so completely together. It seemed to me, whilst in my mainly observant role that session, that both groups brought two different energies which combined well with regards to the current ‘Frenfords Summer Jam’ project.
The project being centredaround sports and activity reflects well the energy and enthusiasm being exudedby both the Youth Committee and the Youth Action Team (which both uncannily sound like superhero groups… Hmm, this might get interesting…). The Herculean effort of coordinating multiple events, on a rolling and unpredictable schedule as that which is planned for the 8th of August, was being made light work by the heroic organisational capacity to be found in the team. I’d found groups split into three differentlogistical concerns and this streamlining of responsibility meant that entertainment and refreshments, marketing etc were dealt with to a superhuman level of detail.
OK, enough with the superhero epithets, hehe. But genuinely, the event is shaping up to be a successful one as the main bulk of work has been completed; what remains is the final completion and perfection of the minute details.
My task this week is to try collate previous experience and current objectives into a workable 'entertainment and refreshments' budget for the ‘Summer Jam’ and to try and round up some volunteers to make the day more successful. If you are reading this and haven't signed up, do I even have to ask?
This is to inform everyone that the Old People's event is on July 25th which will be a Sunday. Faeezah, Sachin, Tasfeeah, Alex and Nisha all went to the home for a site visit which was positive.
At the moment it is running in the shadow of Frenford's which is why it has not been given much attention in terms of blogging but it will receive attention here nevertheless. Events will include tug of war, music, singing and various other events to keep the young and the old heavily entertained.
Four hours of fun never looked so good to be honest. The team looks forward to this event and fun we aim to have.
With the Frenfords event over three Weeks away, lets just recap on what is going on so far.
Since I last wrote here we have made significant progress in terms of preparation. Three groups have been created to help the event in the run up to final preparations. Recruitment has made progress in producing opportunities to volunteer details are below:
If you feel you have what it takes do not hesitate to get involved by following the links above stating your availability to participate on the day. There are also vinspired links:
Communications have finally managed to come up with a flyer for the event. It has been a long time coming but thanks to Craig we have it here to show:
Entertainment is working on how to make the event as fun as possible. The Fire brigade, Police, Connexions and beauty will all be on hand. Plus the events that we have set up on the day.
The event is not far off, if you are interested in volunteering and want to part of the day, get involved. If you know anyone who is going, get involved as well. It promises to be a good one. Volunteer registration forms are available through the links to get involved.
A banner will follow shortly in the run up to the event, when this becomes available it will be displayed.
NE London Youth Action Team in partnership with the Youth Committee Redbridge.
