Current Projects
The Sunflower Performing Arts Project
Promoting children’s development through increased access to dance and drama
2009 sees the launch of our performing arts project where we will running weekend taster events and following these up with ongoing support for the children in regular dance or drama classes within their local communities.
A weekend workshop culminating in a performance in front of parents and guardians costs around £2,000 for 40 children. It costs around £200 per year to support a child in dance classes.
Dance and drama classes are a luxury the parents of the children we help cannot afford. We believe it is important to the children’s development that they gain access to this type of activity. We are proud as an organisation to be putting in place this ongoing support programme.
The first workshop will be held on the weekend of the 8th and 9th August.
Sports Coaching
Following a successful trial held as part of our annual holiday in 2007, we have identified a need to enable more children to get involved in team sports on an ongoing basis. Whilst children participate in sport at school, limited finances mean some cannot join local teams. This means they miss the opportunity to develop both their sporting and team working skills.
Our sports coaching project aims to provide weekend coaching for children and also the support structure to get those that what to involved in local teams. We help by identifying possible teams, paying subs and where required buying basic equipment.
Annual Holiday
As a charity we have been providing holidays for needy children since 1974. The sort of holidays we provide has changed over the years as the needs of the local community have changed. The first holidays were held under canvas with all meals prepared under canvas as well. We then moved on to camping in the grounds of schools, using their kitchen facilities which made catering an easier task. We arranged creative, fun and sporting activities in the camp and also went on local days out.
More recently we have been providing more adventurous activities, which have enabled the children to try new experiences and really challenge themselves. In 2008 we took 40 children to an adventure centre on the Isle of Wight where they were able to try abseiling, dragon boat racing, climbing and a whole lot more.
All our holidays give the children a chance to experience living in the great outdoors. Many of the children we help do not get the opportunity to visit the countryside very often and it is great that through our holidays they can start to appreciate its beauty.
