INTRODUCTION

SUMMER PROGRAMME REVIEW 2021

It was “touch and go” for most of the year if we would be able to deliver activities face to face this summer due to Covid infection rates. However, with the vaccine and more relaxed guidance from the government the Cheshire Young Carers team decided it was essential to at least try to deliver a more normal schedule of activities over the school summer holidays. So intensive discussion took place with staff, partners, and venues to deliver an amazing programme of activities that was designed to get young carers together again, build friendship networks and help children who had spent much of the previous 18 months in isolation to have confidence in being out and about.

The result has been our biggest ever programme of events, in more local centres than ever and not forgetting the popular online activities that have been developed over the last 12 months. You can see the results of the hard work in this report and so many smiling faces.

Cheshire Young Carers is grateful to our funding partners (see page 21) who provide the financial resources and without this investment we simply would not have been able to deliver our events and activities.

I also want to pay tribute to the Cheshire Young Carers staff team, the colleagues who joined us for the summer programme period and the volunteers who helped to deliver the full programme in extraordinary circumstances. The programme reflected in this report is the result of months of planning, hours spent dreaming up activities, periods of frustration when plans fell apart as a result of things outside our control but also the joy of when a great plan comes together.

As you read this review of our summer 2021 programme, please consider the challenging circumstances against which it was delivered, the fact that many of the children had not seen their “young carer friends” for over 18 months and the fact that the threat posed by Covid had not disappeared. Throughout the last 18 months Cheshire Young Carers has continued to support children who are young carers, much of which had to be done online so it was just fantastic to be back meeting children face to face.

Enjoy reading this inspiring reflection on a summer of fun for young carers.

Thank you, Graham Phillips

Graham Phillips Managing Director Cheshire Young Carers