Tag: Adventure

Picture shows a group of children with disabilitiessitting and standing on a giant paddleboard on a fishing pond

Summer Activity Success in Grampian

 

Children and Young People with disabilities from across Grampian had an amazing summer thanks to Scottish Government funding.

As part of the Get Into Summer funding available through councils, Grampian Disability Sport and the Grampian Regional Manager were able to secure £8,000 through Moray Council and Aberdeenshire ClubSport to run 14 outdoor adventure activities and activity days in the 2 local authority areas.

Additionally, SDS worked with Aberdeenshire Council’s education team to put on a further 16 activity days and sessions for young people living in Aberdeenshire.

Activities were offered as full and half day options at various activity centres, and standalone sessions in water sport disciplines were also up for grabs.

Our young people, who often face challenges and barriers when trying to access adventure and experience appropriate risk, had the opportunity to try a number of different activities including climbing, archery, clay pigeon shooting, surfing, karting, laser tag and off road driving.

Combined, 415 outdoor adventure opportunities were offered to children and young people aged 8 – 17 with disabilities and additional support needs living in Moray & Aberdeenshire.

Helen, parent of 2 children who attended the Moray activities, said “It was lovely meeting other families with similar struggles, and we can’t wait for paddleboarding and surfing this week! It’s made our summer holidays a little brighter!”

Paddleboarding in particular has been so successful this summer that a number of families have invested in their own equipment, and we’re investigating setting up a monthly session with one of the providers after an overwhelming number of requests from families.

Thank you to Live Life Aberdeenshire, Moray Council, Aberdeenshire ClubSport and Aberdeenshire Council for distributing the funding that made this possible.

If you, or anyone you know, lives with a physical, sensory or learning disability in Grampian or Shetland & is interested in getting involved in sport, please get in touch with Alison on alison.shaw@scottishdisabilitysport.com or 07828 744 848.
Two youngsters paddle a kayak across a pond.

Successful Summer of Fun Programme for Grampian Disability Sport

Grampian Disability Sport had a fantastic return to sport during the summer holidays, thanks to Summer of Play funding.

GDS was able to access just under £8,000 of the government funding thanks to a partnership between Live Life Aberdeenshire and Aberdeenshire ClubSport, which enabled their member clubs and organisations to apply for funding to run free of charge sports and activities for young people and families in Aberdeenshire.

After a surge in popularity of Scottish Disability Sport’s Summer Camp offering for youngsters aged 10 -17 with physical disabilities and sensory impairments, which was to be held at Lochter Activity Centre in Oldmeldrum, the funding enabled GDS to provide a further 7 half-day adventure camps at the site, which were opened up to youngsters with any disability aged 8-17 from Aberdeenshire, and their siblings and families.

Families had the opportunity to take part in a range of adventure activities including buggy driving, water zorbing, go karting, Segway, archery, kayaking and more! The environment was relaxed, staff were very flexible and went above and beyond to support the youngsters, and a total of 161 unique participants were involved across the 7 sessions.

Families commented that they wouldn’t ordinarily pay for this type of experience as they were concerned that their youngsters wouldn’t take part or wouldn’t manage, but seeing their children fully engage in the activities and gain confidence in their abilities changed their perceptions. It enabled parents and carers to meet other families and allowed their children to connect with their peers after lockdown.

They’re looking forward to hopefully offering a similar programme with Lochter during the Aberdeenshire Tatty Holidays.

If you (or someone you know) lives with a disability in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray or Shetland and wants to get involved in sport or physical activity, get in touch with Alison on alison.shaw@scottishdisabilitysport.com or call 07828744848.