An unforgettable summer of fun with Holiday Squad

The summer holidays may be over, but there are lots of happy memories for the children who took part in our Holiday Squad over July and August. 

Over 400 children of primary school age from across County Durham and Northumberland were able to enjoy a range of fun and engaging free activities with a free meal.  

They included a carousel of fun filled cooking and craft activities with Creative Kitchen, a circus skills camp with Circurama and fun outdoor activities at North East charity NECA’S Community Garden. 

You can look at some of the fun that was had in our Holiday Squad video:  

Holiday Squad is made possible by funding from the UK Government’s Holiday activities and food programme (HAF) and support from Durham County Council’s Fun and Food Programme and Northumberland County Council’s Northumberland Holiday Provision and Prudhoe Youth Project. 

Paul Moralee, Karbon Homes Community Investment Manager, said: 

“We’ve invested in Holiday Squad alongside the funding we received from Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council because it’s creating activities and opportunities for young people to get out there, get involved and do worthwhile activities throughout the school holidays. 

“We’ve been running these activities for the last three years and the feedback’s always positive.” 

Here are some of the great comments we've received from both the children and parents who took part in Holiday Squad: 

Holiday Squad participant, Sonny said: “It makes me feel kind of warm and happy.” 

Izzy and Adrian really enjoyed learning to play cricket together: “My favourite bit was catching the balls It makes me feel happy.”  

Ronan and Finn loved taking part in Creative Kitchen: “My favourite part of today was making cookies and doing the activities. it’s really good.” 

Holiday Squad customer, Danielle, said: “There’s been a lot of different things for the children to do and it’s been really well led and really well organised.” 

Halima Ali loves the community aspect of the activities: “It’s lovely to be outdoors, be with the community and other people, rather than being cooped up at home with the iPads.” 

Marjorie highlighted how important the free meals are for families: “I think it’s really important to reduce stigma around the need for food during school holidays particularly, when it might be hard for some families to feed their children.”  

Jessica Alexander, one of Karbon Homes’ Community Connectors, went on to talk about how important activities are for families over the summer holidays: 

“It’s really hard for families to keep their kids entertained for the full six weeks. We know that a lot of kids might not be able to go on holiday or get out on trips. So putting activities on that are based locally in their community means that they’ve got somewhere to go and something to do that’s free.” 

David Johnson, who runs NECA’s Community Gardens reiterated the importance of putting these activities on in deprived areas: 

“This is a lifeline for the families, it keeps them going because when they’re at school some of these children get free meals, but when they’re on holiday they don’t get them, so they’ve got no food at all. 

“Thanks to the support of Karbon Homes, we’ve been able to put a packed lunch on for every child who’s come along so obviously it’s been amazing.” 

For the first time this year, we partnered with Durham Cricket to put on an even bigger selection of free activities, offering non-stop cricket fun with their All Stars Cricket and Dynamos Cricket programmes. 

Marsha Davies and Alex Patterson, who are Women and Girls Development Officers at Durham Cricket, have really seen the benefits of being part of Holiday Squad: 

“We’re partnering with Karbon Homes so that we can provide the community with free access to cricket, getting children involved either for the first time or they’re experienced cricketers, everyone has the opportunity to take part. 

“Some kids that may not necessarily be able to get involved because of any barriers financially, get to have a look in and they can go away from today with a really, really positive experience.” 

Holiday Squad takes place over the Easter and summer holidays. You can look out for future activity by visiting our Holiday Squad events page. 

To find out more about how we fund local projects and how you can get involved, visit our Community page.