Today Damian visited a pilot holiday programme offering local families a wide range of activities, and good food, during the summer break.
Held locally at the Woodlands Community Hall in Headley Down and Wootey’s School in Alton, the four-week programme is free to attend and enables families to take part in a range of activities including cooking as well as physical and creative activities, a Daily Mile challenge and other activities to support wellbeing. Families can also take home ‘Bake, Take & Freeze’ recipes.
Damian said:
“These holiday activities pilots were something we initiated when I was at the Department for Education, and it was great to see it in action this week and meet some of the families taking part. There are different pilots running in different parts of the country. I particularly like the approach the Connect4Summer team have taken, with the emphasis on cooking and healthy eating alongside the other activities.”
Susan Parish and Jan Lefley, organisers of Connect4Summer, commented:
“Our bid was very much based on supporting families to make positive choices and changes for the long term. With the engagement of many partners including Citizen Advice Bureau providing debt management, school nurses providing information on healthy choices, HomeStart supporting families, community training providers doing first aid sessions we believe the project with empower families to make positive choices and changes.”