Short Break Stories

Outdoor Activities

A story by Jack and Jill Support Group

We enjoyed a trip to a dairy farm which was provided by Royal Highland Education Trust and we hope to take part in another outing with them next year. As a celebration, we were able to take part in a residential stay at Auchengillan Outdoor Activity Centre and we took part in various outdoor and indoor activities which everyone really enjoyed. This is our second year running this project.

Our group supports families who have children with additional support needs and we do this in a variety of ways. This project involved a session in allotment skills every Sunday. Young people got to take part in learning how to manage an allotment, how to grow and care for plants and flowers and linked in the theory with health and well being.

What Outdoor Activities did

We participated in a weekly rental of a large plot within Chapelhall Allotments and this was ran by a pool of regular volunteers. This activity was available to any member of the organisation and was not restricted in numbers. We ran every Sunday from March - September from 12pm-3pm on a 2 group rotational basis. We did experience some issues with retaining volunteers and are considering a new approach to develop more consistence for our young people. The Auchengillan trip was enjoyed by everyone who took part and was very well attended.

Carers reported that they enjoyed seeing the progress they're young people had made after completing the planned sessions. Some carers used the opportunity to go for a coffee with each other which has proved to help reduce levels of isolation commonly reported as an issue many of members face before becoming involved with the project.

Carers also reported how much they enjoyed the awards ceremony last year and are all very much looking forward to this years on the 4th of November.

Our Children and Young People have taken part in a weekly allotment group running from spring to autumn. During these sessions they have learned about the general upkeep and maintenance of an allotment along with learning about the growth and development of various kinds of fruit and vegetables. We were able to see and study the different shapes and colours and explore recipe ideas of what we could produce from each item harvested.

We had hoped to use our crops in our cooking classes but due to accommodation difficulties we haven’t even able to run the cooking classes.

One of our parent carers has said that the allotment gave her a chance to do the things that others take for granted. Simple things such as being able to read a book in the bath or take their mother for a coffee for the 2 hours that the young people spent with us.
One of our families who attended the allotment at every occasion, has now decided to create a space at home where her and her children can grow and maintain their own plants. Her eldest son got so much from the project and was made a supervisor to help the young ones learn about how to care and maintain the crops.

What Jack and Jill Support Group has learned

We have learned that although several families enjoyed the allotment it was not best suited to the majority of our families. Most families participated in the outdoor adventure weekend but the allotment was only regularly attested by small numbers of families.
Top tips Jack and Jill Support Group's top tips for an organisation that wants to run a similar project
Tip 1:
We are hoping to spend a greater deal of time surveying our families to ensure the theme of the project is suitable to most families who attend.
Tip 2:
We found consistent volunteers a struggle and that had more families participate we may have struggled to maintain the staffing requirements.

We have decided that more time will be spent on the recruitment of either permanent volunteers or paid sessional staff.
Tip 3:
Involve children, young people and their families at every step. This will ensure a service head project.