Short Break Stories

Ashcraig Former Pupils Club Summer Club

A story by Ashcraig Former Pupils Club

We held a very successful summer club over 10 days in July 2016 which benefited carers of members of Ashcraig Former Pupils Club, an organisation which provides a safe social environment for young adults with physical/visual disabilities.

Members took part in a variety of activities such as art projects, sport and relaxation techniques.

What Ashcraig Former Pupils Club Summer Club did

Our summer club was held in Croftcroighn School Glasgow over 10 days in late June/early July (10am-3pm) for members of our organisation, all of whom have a physical disability/visual impairment. This allowed carers of our members to have some free time and make plans.

The camp was run on a day-to-day basis by highly qualified staff who have a lot of experience working with people with disabilities and do so regularly for our club. We worked with a number of recognised organisations in order to provide a varied programme of activities. We engaged the services of a Dance Instructor who provided fun sessions allowing members who took part, whether wheelchair-bound or not, to have fun, learn new skills and keep fit.

We liaised with Glasgow Disability Alliance to arrange for a massage therapist to come along and spend time with members giving head and neck massages and teaching generalised relaxation exercises. We obtained the services of sports coaches through Urban Fox to deliver opportunities to our members who took part in activities such as football, hockey and curling. We were especially pleased to have a visit from Angie Malone, Bronze medal winner in curling at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

We brought in an organisation called Project Ability to deliver an Art Project working with a variety of materials. The finished results were fabulous. Members also had the opportunity just to catch up with one another and make new friends.

Carers were able to plan their own activities while their cared-for family members were being looked after. Some carers met up with friends, some spent time doing odd jobs around the house which they would not normally be able to have time to do. Some were able to spend quality time with their other children.

One commented that it was lovely to have some 'me time'. Many carers commented on feeling less stressed.

Carer A is the mother of a 24 year old man with a physical disability, he spends much of his time in a wheelchair. Whilst her son was being looked after at the summer club she spent some time relaxing in her garden and doing some jobs around the house that she wouldn't normally have time for. She caught up with friends and was able to spend some quality time with her daughter.

Carer B is a full-time carer for her 27 year old son who has physical and visual problems. Whilst her son was at the summer camp she enjoyed her 'me time'. She normally has to take her son shopping with her which can be stressful as he can take epileptic seizures so she found shopping and meeting up with friends more relaxing. She enjoyed having the freedom to do more things in general by herself.
Carer C is the father of a 31 year old man with autism, his son benefits from familiar routines and is particularly interested in the Arts. He loves dance, artwork and being with people he knows at the club, including friends and staff.

Carer C, who does not drive, was able to plan outings for himself whilst his son was being looked after and felt less stressed as a result.

What Ashcraig Former Pupils Club has learned

The fund made it possible for our Summer Club to go ahead. We wanted to target as many carers of members of our club as possible through our summer camp in July 2016. We agreed a rate for subscriptions early on (around October/November 2015) and were pleased when 22 members showed an interest in coming along.

We had in place the option for all members to pay a small amount regularly in advance to allow as many as possible to budget for our camp. Several chose to do this with others opting to pay on a daily basis for the 2 weeks. Unfortunately only 16 members and their carers eventually benefited from our camp as 3 members were affected by illness and 3 members withdrew their names.
Top tips Ashcraig Former Pupils Club's top tips for an organisation that wants to run a similar project
Tip 1:
We will in future have to ask all members and carers to confirm at an earlier date if they definitely wish to attend our camp. We were initially delighted with the enthusiasm shown for us holding a 2 week camp and were disappointed when some withdrew or could not attend through illness.

It may be that in the future we will have to ask for some deposit to secure a place so that we can be more certain of those who will attend.
Tip 2:
We are slightly limited as an organisation as to how we can target new members and their carers as members are all former pupils of Ashcraig School.

We have decided to create a Facebook page which will hopefully attract new members and increase the number of carers we can help, especially during this 2 week period in July when we run our camp.
Tip 3:
We have an 'Events Committee' which gathers ideas from members to help us provide an interesting and varied programme for our summer camp.

We would like to include carers more in this process to ensure that we can continue to deliver an exciting and varied programme in which their young people will wish to be involved.