NOT MUCH SUN BUT LOTS OF FUN

The Factory Young People’s Centre ran a fantastic summer programme enjoyed by lots of young people.  The programme ran for four weeks in August and included targeted employment work, open access youth sessions and off site activities.

As part of Birmingham Youth Service’s Youth Employment Initiative Work (YEI) each Tuesday was a day dedicated to YEI Film Making Project.

Open access sessions involved a range of varied and exciting activities including dance off battles on the Wii, sports and arts based sessions.  Northfield Arts Forum ran sessions that included drama and producing a new banner for our twitter page.  The National Science Association ran fun but messy science based activities and Sport Birmingham delivered Rackets Festival 2017 in the MUGA.  These activities introduced a number of new faces to The Factory as well as bringing together members of our different youth sessions across different age groups.

The Factory also joined forces with our friends at Maypole Youth Centre to take part in activity days at Blackwell Adventure Centre and Woodlands Adventure Centre.  These were fantastic days out, each attended by over 50 young people from the 2 centres.  Activities included archery, zip wires, canoeing and assault courses among others.  These activities encouraged the young people to meet others from different areas and try new activities that they had not experienced before.  Many young people were also able to overcome personal fears in order to take part in the activities.

The Factory once again visited the Clent Hills to take part in activities organised by The National Trust.   These activities included den building, making camp fires and other outdoor crafts.  Once again, this proved another exciting day and young people gained lots of experience of being in the great outdoors.  Two of our older members have now started on the National Trust GAP Programme, a year long training course with The National Trust.

Additionally, young people from The Factory also visited Solihull Ice Rink.  For many, this was the first time that they had ice skated and despite a couple of early wobbles, by the end of the session all the young people had clearly gained confidence and developed their ability on the ice.