Summer of Fun, food & Football at Living Space

Throughout the 6-week summer holidays our Living Space community centre in Waterloo became a hub for a Summer of Food and Fun for 8–16-year-olds. Our holiday club offered a huge range of activities including adventure play, football, table tennis, pool, Xbox lounge, games, arts and crafts. We also arranged trips – including taking 16 children go karting. The club was attended by a total of 138 children over the course of the summer break. An average of 35 children joined us per day.

A summer of food and fun for all

Thanks to Lambeth’s Council’s Holiday Activity Fund (HAF), our Summer of Food and Fun was completely free for families, meaning that we were able to welcome young people from a range of backgrounds and with various needs.

Opportunities to grow

Summer of Food and Fun also provided opportunities for local young people to hone their employable skills. One of our regular football session attendees, Issy, joined us to manage session registration and attendance, and also delivered a presentation on street safety inspired by his experience of being an army and a fire brigade cadet. While a 13-year-old attendee, Chloe, began taking younger members under her wing and helped to lead activities like popcorn making, playground games and table tennis. As Chloe hopes to become a youth worker when she leaves school, this experience proved invaluable and helped to boost her confidence in other area too. The Living Space team were also extremely grateful for her help and presented her with a card and voucher at the end of the holidays.

Sustainable holiday clubs

Our Living Space team seeks to run our activities in line with Bankside Open spaces Trust’s sustainability policy – thanks to Lambeth Council we were able to provide all children with reusable metal bottle to cut down on waste, and our staff sourced the products needed for activities locally. We also encourage sustainable travel by recruiting staff from the local area.

We are hoping to run a similar program during the next holiday in late October.