Creative fun in the time of Coronavirus
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Come and Have Fun with Other Young Carers
It’s not all so serious, we also have lots of clubs and activities to help you to have fun, relax, take a break and meet other Young Carers.
From cookery lessons to ice skating, we have it all!
Sometimes Young Carers find it hard to see their school friends as they have to be home after school and at weekends, this can mean sometimes that you feel left out or isolated.
All of our activities are for Young Carers only so you know that you will be with other people who understand what it means to be a Young Carer and you can make new friends with people that may be going through similar things to you.
Wednesday Evening Hubs
Every other Wednesday we have a great evening club where you can meet other young carers and take part in lots of fantastic activities such as:
- Arts and crafts
- Therapy dog visits
- Chickenshed theatre workshops
- Hip-hop dancing
- X box and Nintendo Switch
- Sports and games
- Chatting and relaxing
The clubs run from 5.30pm – 7.30pm every other week either at Enfield Carers Centre or at different locations across the borough as appropriate. ECC staff will always be present.
If you need help getting here we can send somebody to come and pick you up.
Once you are registered with Enfield Carers Centre and we have consent from your parents or guardians, all you need to do is let us know if you would you like to come along.
Give us a call or get your parent or guardian to call us and we will tell you all about it, come along, we’d love to see you.
Outings and Activities
We also arrange regular outings and activities such as:
- Seaside trips
- BMX biking
- Theatre & Cinema Trips
- Pizza and Movie afternoons
- Trampolining
- Bowling
- Museum trips and lots more.
The next hubs and social events will be:
See some of the activities Young Carers have done recently
Create Drama Workshop
Over February 2023 half-term, a group of our Young Carers attended a 3-day Drama workshop with Create.
We learnt money management skills through drama and game playing!
We looked at lots of different drama skills such as improvisation, building characters and telling stories, and used them to make short performances exploring the role money plays in our lives.
‘Make your own aliens’ workshop
Rab Ferguson, author of The Late Crew, a story about Young Carers meeting aliens, led a ‘make your own aliens’ workshop for our Young Carers online in December.
Our Young Carers imagined aliens either by drawing or writing (their choice) and created the start of their own story.
Visit to Sealife Adventure at Southend – Summer 2022
On Wednesday 17th August 2022, a group of young carers from Enfield Carers Centre visited Sealife Adventure at Southend.
It may have been stormy in Enfield, but the weather held out for us and we had a lovely day!
We watched the penguins being fed, walked through aquariums and butterfly farms, and also saw some meerkats, monkeys, giant tortoises and even dinosaurs!
We also spent some time on the beach – collecting shells, exploring rock pools, making sandcastles, and even playing Uno!
For many of our young carers, their caring responsibilities have meant they have never visited a seaside before so this was an incredibly special experience for them.
We want to say a huge thank you to the Jack Petchey Foundation and a private donor for funding this trip – it put smiles on the children’s faces and gave them the chance to just be children for a while.
Create! Music and Money 2022
During the last week of July 2022, Create delivered a 3-day Change Matters music workshop for our Young Carers.
Our Young Carers explored both music and money!
They used music to help understand how money works, discovered the things money can do, and asked themselves how money makes them feel.
Listen to the music they produced.
Young Carers Action Day (YCAD) 2022
Young Carers Action Day (YCAD) 2022 took place on Wednesday 16th March.
This year’s theme, chosen by Young Carers and Young Adult Carers, was ‘Taking Action on Isolation’ and focused on securing action to help address the isolation they experience as young carers.
At Enfield Carers Centre, our EyPIC Young Carers Project tries to address this isolation all year round through a range of face-to-face and online activities, and other support including tutoring and mentoring. Even throughout the lockdowns we ensured our young carers had access to food and other essentials, digital devices, stationery, games, craft sets, and plenty of online activities!
This Young Carers Action Day, a group of our young carers participated in an after-school online music workshop, led by Create, and funded by the Carers Trust and the Pears Foundation. They created a new piece of music around the theme ‘isolation’. The ideas were drawn from the young carers and the piece includes voice, electronics, any instruments that the young people played, and ‘found’ instruments (such as a pan and lid!)
Please listen to this incredible piece of music created by our talented young carers, who as they say, are UNSTOPPABLE!
Visual Art workshops exploring financial concepts through animation
Create ran a fabulous Visual Art workshop for us on Monday 23rd – Wednesday 25th August.
Chloe led us in a three-day visual art project exploring financial concepts through animation and other activities, including financial bingo!
We learnt about the difference between credit and debit cards, and created these very special animations!
Gary gets a friend
The Loan
Spongebob
EyPIC have been on some fantastic trips over this summer holiday!
Epping Forest
On Monday 26th and Thursday 29th July, we went to Epping Forest and took part in activities led by Kate from the City of London Open Spaces Department.
We went orienteering using maps to explore the forest, created our own spectacular shelters, learnt how to light a fire, and heated up our own hot chocolate!
Create Photography
Create led a fabulous photography workshop for us on Tuesday 3rd – Thursday 5th August. Rachel led us in a three-day visual art project exploring experimental photography and image making to document the environment and surroundings at Enfield Town Park.
We collected natural materials to inspire and include in art making processes such as cyanotype photography, drawing and collage.
Our photos and visual artworks were compiled in a handmade artist book, and we enjoyed sharing our achievements with our families at the end of the workshop.
Myddelton House Gardens
On Wed 11th August, the knowledgeable Jo gave us a brilliant tour around Myddelton House Gardens, organised through Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.
We discovered more about the history of the house, found some incredible recycled items (some from Enfield Town Marketplace and Tower Bridge), found out more about the plants and creatures that live there, and completed a nature scavenger hunt.
There were some HUGE sunflowers!
During Carers Week 2021, our Young Carers designed some brilliant tote bags and T-shirts. Many thanks to the Jack Petchey Foundation whose Achievement Award grants made this possible!
Young Carers Create a ‘World In A Box’
Over the Easter Holidays, some of our Young Carers participated in a workshop to create a ‘World In A Box’ using recycled materials, led by Create. These boxes were created based on their memories, dreams, aspirations, and favourite things!
Young Carers Create Music whilst learning about managing money
These two pieces of music were created by our Young Carers (in conjunction with Young Carers from Scarborough & Ryedale Carers Resource) in an online workshop over the Christmas holidays, led by Create.
change:matters has been designed to increase Young Carers’ confidence around managing money in the home.
The Young Carers did this by exploring the difference between a need and want; increasing their understanding of the different kinds of savings accounts and learning how to save money when shopping. By learning how to budget, the Young Carers were able to plan for the future and save for unexpected expenses, gaining an understanding of the different types of loans available should they need to borrow money and what to do if they ever get into trouble with debt.
These skills were gained through creative, interactive workshops lead by one of our professional artists. In the change:matters music workshops the Young Carers formed a band and wrote their own original songs based around the themes explored when learning about money. They worked together to write lyrics, come up with the melody and rhythm, play ‘instruments’ they find around the house and record these via Zoom. There was a sharing on the final day to which Young Carers could invite family and friends to be an audience for their finished songs.
Young Carers Create Music about “Our Future”
For Young Carers Action Day 2021, Young Carers from EyPIC participated in a 3-day music workshop funded by Bloom and Wild through the Carers Trust.
Under the guidance of an inspirational professional musician from the award-winning charity Create, 14 Young Carers created 2 new pieces of music on the theme ‘Our Future’.
The ideas were drawn from the Young Carers and the pieces include voice, electronics, any instruments that the young people play and ‘found’ instruments (e.g. pan and lid / grater and pen!).
Young Carers Create Zines
In October 2020, a group of our Young Carers created their own zines in an online workshop delivered by Linden from Create.
Click to see the zines. One focuses on their hobbies, and the other is a ‘Museum of Us’.
You can trust us!
