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Look who’s joining us for our Holiday Squad!

We’re teaming up with Durham Cricket to put on an even bigger selection of free summer holiday activities with healthy food.

Throughout the summer holidays, boys and girls from 5-8 years old can enjoy non-stop fun with All Stars Cricket.

The activity and game based programme is suitable for all skill levels, providing your child with the foundations to begin a lifelong love of physical activity and cricket, while making friends in a safe and enjoyable environment. Plus, all sessions come with a free meal.

Children aged 8-11 can also take part with Dynamos Cricket. Complementing junior cricket, Dynamos provides children with a more social offer focused on developing fundamental movement skills and applying them in an exciting game of countdown cricket.

Paul Moralee, Karbon Homes Community Investment Manager, said:
“We’re so excited to have Durham Cricket on board as part of our free Holiday Squad programme.

“Holiday Squad helps keep children active throughout the summer holidays and this is exactly what the All Stars and Dynamos Cricket classes will provide.

“Having the support of a fantastic organisation like Durham Cricket means that we will also be able to reach even more people in our communities, with the classes taking places at cricket clubs across the region.”  

Thanks to funding from our Holiday Squad activities fund, the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Sky Sports, children can enjoy these activities for free. Durham Cricket is also giving free junior membership to all participants who sign up to any of these programmes. For more information, visit Durham Cricket’s website.  

Darren Brown, National Programmes Lead at Durham Cricket said:

“We are very grateful to Karbon for their support helping us deliver an inclusive and exciting initiative this summer.

“Thanks to Karbon’s backing all sessions come with free food - something that was really important for us to provide in order to remove barriers to participation and we are glad that this campaign has been made possible.

“The initiative will introduce more children to the game and reach those families that otherwise might not have been able to pay the full price of the programmes.

“We look forward to delivering a busy programme of activity across the six weeks.”

These classes are just a few of the many activities available for free as part of Holiday Squad. We’re also offering a great range of free activities for children of primary school age.

County Durham

Supported by Durham County Council’s Fun and Food programme, children in County Durham can enjoy the following activities:

Learn to cook with Creative Kitchen – a carousel of fun filled cooking and craft activities.

Multi-sports with Newcastle United Foundation – exciting sports classes that will get your kids moving.

Get Creative with ARTventurers – creative fun with ARTventurers award winning art classes.

Circus Skills Camp with Circurama – learn everything you need to know to take part in the greatest show on earth.

Experiments with Big Science – fun, hands on science experiments.

Northumberland

Supported by Northumberland County Council’s Northumberland Holiday Provision and Prudhoe Youth Project, children in Northumberland can take part in:

Energize Dance – enjoy an upbeat dance workshop that promotes positive physical and mental health.

Fun Little Foodies – make delicious recipes and develop a love of food whilst having lots of fun!

Get Creative with ARTventurers – creative fun with ARTventurers award winning art classes.

Circus Skills Camp with Circurama – learn everything you need to know to take part in the greatest show on earth.

South Tyneside

We’re working with North East charity NECA to put on lots of fun activities at their Community Gardens in South Shields.

An oasis in the heart of the community, children and their parents can join us at Brockley Avenue allotments for:

  • Gardening activities
  • Woodwork / Arts and crafts activities
  • Sports including football, pool, mini golf
  • Games
  • Outdoor play – sand pits, mud kitchens, imaginative play, slides
  • Wildlife activities – come and feed the chickens, meet some other animals along the way
  • Street Dance
  • Face painting

Sessions run Monday – Thursday, 10am - 2pm from 24 July – 25 August and from Tue – Fri, 10am - 2pm from 28 August – 1 September. Pre-booking is not necessary for the NECA activities.

Most activities are outdoors so we advise dressing appropriately for the weather.

All our Holiday Squad activities come with a free meal. Some sessions require parents to attend with their children, please check the event pages for more details.

Our Holiday Squad sessions are very popular. We advise booking early to make sure you don’t miss out.

To find out more about our Summer Holiday Squad activities and book your children’s places, visit our events page

Holiday Squad has been made possible thanks to funding from the UK Government’s Holiday activities and food programme (HAF).

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