For the 2018 programme we have made some changes. Young people and parents wanted more time near the water and to start earlier in the day. They wanted less time doing reviews and 'writing stuff' and more time on the water. We made these changes for 2 new groups (32 young people) who attended over 11 weeks in summer holidays and early part of the Autumn term.
Four young people from the 2017 programme returned as young leaders to help out and Tom from Cardiff University provided them with training in video techniques, including how to record short interviews with participants. We also have two new youth workers - Georgia and Asiya.
The 2018 programme included many of the activities we ran in 2017. We started off learning basic kayaking skills including water safety, and we emphasised the importance of working together in order to manoeuvre and travel in a straight line. For some this was easy: for others it was more of a challenge but it didn't take too long before everyone could move up and down the River Soar.
Here are some shots of activities across the summer including the Runners-up Award we won at the Living Waterways Award 2018 and a picture of our evaluation partners from Cardiff University (Tom and Hannah) speaking about our project at the Royal Geographical Society's International Conference.