Half-term sporting success delivered by parish council and charity teamwork

Haydon Wick Council and the charity BEST – ‘Be A Better You’ hosted two successful sports and activity sessions this February half term for local children to enjoy.

The parish council said it saw a record number of attendees, with over 40 children benefitting from the event. 

‘Best – Be A Better You’ is a charity who aim to provide children and young people with one-to-one mentoring programmes and positive enrichment activities. Haydon Wick Council has partnered with BEST for over two years, and each session always very popular during the school holidays.

The first of this February's session activities included non-contact boxing, team games and football skills taster sessions for young people aged between 5 - 12 years old.

A spokesperson for the parish council said: "The boxing is always very popular and all attendees absolutely love giving it a go. The football skills workshop is a new addition to the BEST portfolio and is becoming a firm favourite with young people."

One parent of a child attending said: “My children really enjoy these sessions, and they really help me out as a single parent”

One of the young people who attended said: “I really hope we get to come to this in the summer like last year, we love it!”

The second session was new to both Haydon Wick Council and BEST, as it was aimed exclusively at 13-16 year olds. 

Young people were given the opportunity to try a new discipline, such as boxing and circuit training. Both the parish council and BEST say they know it can be very difficult for young people - especially teenagers - to express themselves in a positive way.

The activities proved to be great for stress management and self-control. BEST’s programmes also help to increase confidence and emotional resilience which support young people to progress to a positive future.

Those who attended said they thoroughly enjoyed the activities at this session, which included tyre flipping, boxing and a Parish Council & Police Team versus Young People Team Tug of War.

The parish council added that teenagers in the parish being able to recognise supportive and friendly adults in the community is really important to them, as it helps to break down the communication barriers.

Craig Hiscock, Operations Manager at BEST said: “We really enjoy working with Haydon Wick Parish Council. There are great facilities and we always manage to reach lots of young people from this parish This half term we wanted to do some targeted work with 13-16 year olds in the form of a boxing boot camp style session.

"We talked about the recent tragic event in the parish and asked the young people what type of help and services they feel would benefit the young people of Haydon Wick in the future.”

Cllr R Ross, Chair of Community Development Committee said: “We are delighted to have been able to work alongside BEST in delivering these two programmes, both of which have provided a wonderful opportunity for local children of all ages to have some fun, socialise and experience a new activity.

"What has really stood out for me is the fantastic efforts and team spirit showed by the children taking part, and more importantly they looked like they were having great fun!”