Project Title: Activate at 32 Huntley Avenue

Funding Received: £1898 (Phase 4: 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023)

Project Outline: During lockdown, a lot of the children at the home were no longer accessing sports and social activities, and have found it difficult to begin reattending these, due to their existing social issues being exacerbated by the lack of social engagement they had during Covid19. Many express a desire to become more active/healthy but meeting new people or doing activities outside of their home where they feel safe and confident is an insurmountable task for them.

Many/most of the children who reside in the Children’s home have not had positive lifestyle role models through their formative years, and alongside this have other significant barriers which stop them from leading a healthy and active lifestyle, such as anxiety or self-esteem issues as well as not understanding what constitutes a healthy and active lifestyle.

The project uses the ‘Activate’ programme to coach and train staff as well as purchase equipment to lead the children and engage them in physical activities in what they know to be a safe environment with people they know and trust.

Trusted provider Garry Holmes from Home Grown Sports Development will attend 32 Huntley Avenue to deliver Active Cumbria’s Activate Programme. He will provide 12 sessions of both activity delivery and coaching to enable both the children and staff to participate in activities and tasks as well as develop their understanding of how to plan, risk assess, deliver and evaluate their own activities. Children and staff will be provided with a set of equipment to keep for the duration of this project and beyond as well as guided as to other equipment they may wish to use and household alternatives to these. They will have access to resources such as activity cards as well as on-line resources to allow them to maintain their interest and activity levels, as well as post-project visits and support from Garry and Active Cumbria.