With support from our Customer Assembly, we provided over £4,500 to Corby Sports Dimensions [CSD] to set up and run an activity camp so some children in Greatwell Homes properties can attend for free during the October school break.
Many parents and carers face the difficulty of having to cut down working hours during school holidays due to childcare, particularly as the cost-of-living crisis has meant many families cannot afford to pay childcare.
Over 30 children aged between 5 and 12 years old attended the camp at Croyland Nursery School and Day Nursery which was completely free for the children to attend. The camp allowed 80% of the parents and carers* to work more hours than they would have without the activity centre.
The camp is a safe space where children can socialise, make new friends, and engage in activities such as cooking and sports.
For the older children, they had the opportunity of becoming ‘young leaders’ teaching them responsibility, building confidence for secondary school and gives them invaluable experience and certificates to include on CVs and College/University submissions. Many ‘young leaders’ in CSD’s history have grown up to work for the company as assistant leaders or managers.
We spoke to four of the young leaders in the Wellingborough Activity Camp; Anaise, Ava, Olivia and Leonie. You can watch it below.
Anaise attended the camp and although she didn’t know what a young leader was when she joined, she was soon keen to become one. She said: “We weren’t given the responsibility; we took the responsibility. We chose to help them. We chose to help the children.”
Our Customer Assembly is made up of a group of our customers. They are responsible for reviewing our performance, consumers standards and our complaints process. Another one of their responsibilities is deciding how our community grant funds are spent and what organisations in the community will benefit from additional funding.