Youngsters set for a Summer Break Out
A month-long series of camps which will see young people break free from lockdown isolation have been planned for Bath & North East Somerset.
Summer Break Out will allow children and young people, as well as their families, to enjoy games and activities in a safe environment.
Crucially, they will also be able to enjoy a free, healthy cooked meal.
Charities, groups and businesses from across the city and surrounding area have all come together to turn Summer Break Out into a reality.
The free camps are planned for three age groups for children and young people and will take place at venues across B&NES, limiting the need for participants to travel far.
To date Prior Park College, Bath Recreation, Bath College, Youth Connect South West, Make Lunch (Oasis Bath), St Michael’s Junior Church School, St Nicholas Primary School, Castle Primary School, Welton Rovers FC, Midsomer Norton Council, Thrings, Irwin Mitchell, Bath Area Play Project, Bath City Football Foundation, BANES Public Health, Feeding Britain, St John’s Foundation, Live Learn Cook, Curo, Future Bright, Fareshare, 3SG and Edwards and Ward along with a number of private individuals, have all signed up to deliver and support Summer Break Out.
Support ranges from a vital financial contribution to offers of expertise and spaces to host sessions.
The idea came from a discussion at Bath Rugby Foundation
during the early stages of the Covid-19 crisis on how the impact of the lockdown would been felt the most by the poorest in society and how youngsters could prepare for returning to normality, building on Bath Rugby’s charity’s previous family and employability work over the years on its Eat Active and Advantage programmes
“We knew that the children and families we work with would suffer greatly and we wanted to explore options for helping people as soon as we could,” said Bath Rugby Foundation CEO, Lynne Fernquest.
“We know that, with one in five children living in poverty, there were already huge problems for young people to overcome. This crisis has only made things worse.
“The impact of Covid-19 is not equal – it has hurt the poorest in
society the most. Vulnerable children have lost free school meals, lost free sport and physical activity, lost structured education and lost their support network.
“Struggling families and children who need the most support are barely surviving with foodbanks domestic abuse helplines and frontline charities reporting massive spikes in demand.”
The idea was shared with other charities, community groups and businesses and is in line with the BANES Public Health Food Poverty Strategy and new steering group.
Due to the scale of Summer Break Out, it needed partner organisations to help host and deliver the sessions.
For more, go to: www.bathrugbyfoundation.com/news/city-ofbath-comes-together-to-launchsummer-break-out.