Published 23 September 2024
Families across West Dunbartonshire benefited from a record number of free summer holiday activities and lunches this year.
The Council invested £100k to ensure there was a range of free events for children and young people to participate in during the holiday period. The popular programme, which saw local groups bidding for funding to host events, offered 13,000 places, including places for children with additional support needs and supplied more than 16,000 lunches and snacks.
The funding enabled Digital Bellsmyre to run virtual reality and gaming sessions, which were attended by 240 young people, while 65 young people enjoyed training at the Vale of Leven Football Academy.
The Cutty Sark Centre held activities for over 600 participants and Haldane Youth Services offered 48 local events including breakfast clubs, family lunch clubs, BBQs and fun activity sessions attracting well over 1,000 participants.
Rock Community Church’s Olympic themed family sessions at the Phoenix Centre welcomed 600 local children and their families and Flourishing Faifley provided 14 nature and craft sessions for families, attracting over 1,700 attendees. Activities included mask and puppet making, and educational sessions focused on wildlife.
Strathclyde Autistic Society provided activities and trips for 600 children and young people with autism and their families.
West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare supported the programme by providing 700 families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis with brunch bags that covered breakfast and lunch for a week.
The Council received very positive feedback from parents and carers of children who attended the summer programme, including: ‘I made new friends and was able to play with them after the club’, ‘Me and my little sister made puppets and suncatchers and gave them to our gran’, ‘The targeted place for our child supported us in caring for our terminally ill family member and ensured our child still had fun summer experiences to look forward to and remember’.
Laura Mason, Chief Education Officer, said: “A huge amount of work goes in to organising the programme and I would like to thank everyone involved in offering an extensive range of engaging activities at no cost to parents. It is particularly pleasing to hear the feedback from children and young people and their families who attended this year’s events and how valuable they find the programme. This has been our most popular programme yet with places for 13,000 children and 16,000 lunches and snacks which support our families who need it most. I would like to thank all the organisations who worked in partnership with the Council in offering fun and engaging programmes and meals over the holidays.”