Play Torbay Newsletter Autumn 2024
Once again: What a busy year it’s been! I’m not even sure I can fit all the news into one newsletter, so much has happened since the last newsletter. Grab a garibaldi and a brew and settle in for a good read.
Junior Placements
With the introduction of James our Play Support Mentor, we have expanded our Junior Placement programme and now have 35 fantastic Junior Placements supporting us since Easter.
This has involved delivering lots of training for the young people and applying to the Council for work permits too. Our Junior Placement team have been helping out at various events and clubs throughout the year, having a great time, making new friends and developing amazing skills too. Well done to all who participated. You’re all superstars!
Earlier this year, Councillor Hannah Stevens met some Junior Placements at a Brixham Town Hall event and decided to award us £1000 of Council Ward monies which was wonderful. Two months ago she was appointed Civic Mayor of Torbay and has written about us see attached article in this autumn’s edition of the Brixham Signal: https://www.brixhamtowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/154/2024/10/October-2024.pdf
In September, James Forsyth, one of our playworkers worked with James Arthur, the Play Support Mentor, to plan and organise an overnight Junior placement camp-out at Indigos Play and Ecology Centre. This was FIRST and proved to be a fantastic way to cap off a summer of hard work. The Juniors had to pitch and sleep in their own tents, share spooky stories, as well as playing games and enjoying a movie under the stars, It was a perfect opportunity to relax, have fun, and a way we could show our appreciation of the Junior Placements outstanding contribution.
Mayfield Hub Club
Working in close collaboration with Stuart Heron, head of Mayfield School we were thrilled to be to open a second club for children with Autism in Torquay to address the growing need for provision in Torbay.
Mayfield Hub Club started in April 2024 and now runs every Thursday evening in term time. From April to July we ran nine sessions and had 263 attendances and are receiving really positive feedback. Similar to ASRUS in Brixham, there are several organisations including Moor to Sea (music) and SENDIASS (information, advice and guidance for parents and carers with children with additional needs) who support us. This means we are able to deliver a wide range of opportunities both indoors and out catering for the varying needs of the children and adults who attend.
2nd Green Marketplace Event
On Saturday 4th May we celebrated all things Eco and Green at Indigos Play & Ecology Centre at our 2nd Green Marketplace event which included a Solar Disco by - DJ THERMIX, an Environmental Storyteller - Martin Maudsley and even a mobile Pop Up Scrapstore.
The sun shone, there were lots of eco art and craft activities as well as delicious food. If you weren’t there you missed a real treat. Over 115 people attended. Everyone worked hard to make it happen and, on the day, and it showed, because the entire day was a great achievement!
Play Torbay’s 25th Birthday Party
On the 6th of July we ran a fantastic Birthday Party event at Indigos Play & Ecology Centre. Yes, that's 25 years of play in Torbay!!!
The event was a huge success with over 200 people attending having lots of fun including making huge bubbles, balancing on Indigos new slacklines, bouncing on a bouncy castle, enjoying a very wet water slide and helping to create a new willow gateway in Indigos to celebrate Play - Torbay becoming a Torbay Global Geopark Associate.
Levelling Up Funding
We were awarded £60,000 of Levelling Up funding for some much needed developments and improvements at Wild Fox playground. There was a lot of cheering when we found out about this. There is a great deal of work to be done at Wild Fox and this money will go a long way towards making it the playground we all dream of and a great boost for the families of Foxhole and surrounding areas.
Plans are all in place and progressing nicely. Chris and his band of helpers, volunteers and staff have already worked really hard on this project. On 10th June they all set to clearing the site, making it safe and getting it ready for the next phase of work. And what’s that saying… ‘Teamwork Makes the Dream Work?’ Well it certainly did that day. It’s staggering how much they achieved… wow! But of course it’s nowhere near complete and there is still a huge amount to be done. The project timeline involves obtaining planning permission by late November, then starting utility work, with building construction during the February school break and completion by late March. There is a huge amount to do but Chris is definitely the guy for the job! here is a huge amount to do but Chris is definitely the guy for the job!
Training
This year we have undertaken a significant staff training audit which has involved all our staff and trustees ensuring they have all the relevant and up to date training required to deliver a quality service provision…. Although this has been tricky for people to fit into their already busy schedules, we really have appreciated your support in helping us to make sure we are up to date with the latest training and regulations.
Heritage Fund
We were awarded a grant from the Torbay Local Heritage Fund to involve children and families in the local heritage of Torbay through playful activities at the Indigos Playground in Brixham. This has involved:
Planning and delivering Play Torbay’s 25th Birthday Party
Creating a film of 25 Years of Play in Torbay hearing different people’s play memories over the years and additionally children’s dreams for the future. The film was made by Emberlense and is a brilliant montage about the work we do and the impact it has and is about to be launched very soon… we may be having a first screening event soon watch this space
Delivering eight ‘Inquisitive about Indigos’ nature geo play sessions with Weird Sticks across the summer holiday to encourage children and families to come to play, whilst at the same time finding out about the Geopark and its significance. vik and Hannah worked with children and adults to create a very special entrance arch to the higher woodland area. They used different coloured willow and hazel to represent the geological layers and the rock formation of Torbay and children created creatures to live there.
Summer HAF 24
From the 29thJuly – 23rd August we ran our Summer HAF 24 programme in Paignton and Torquay. Phew-ee!! Sessions were a great success again this year. The weather was on our side (mostly). The surprise hit of the year was the accidental road trip days from Barton to Indigos which came about to accommodate a venue clash … these proved to be really popular, and every session was fully booked!
The programme included some nature play sessions at Indigos Play and Ecology centre with Weird Sticks as described above. We know that everyone worked really hard at all three sites to give all the children a great time and your hard work has not gone unnoticed. Thank you and well done everyone.
Play Torbay AGM
18th June was Play Torbay’s AGM which could sound like a dry and crusty affair, but it really wasn’t. Ben Kingston-Hughes, our fantastic guest speaker gave a really funny, informative and thought provoking talk about the value of play. Check him out: http://www.inspired.org.uk he really was an inspiration. We could have listened to him all evening.
As part of the event there is a reflection on the year which gives an insight into how we have performed as an organisation in the previous year. It’s really quite jaw dropping to hear how much we (which includes you) achieved. Some of these include delivering 62 holiday and after school sessions and 1750 children attended, 38 ASRUS sessions with 765 children attending and that we opened a second autism club in Torquay Mayfield Hub Club and in only 9 sessions a total of 263 children attended.
Foxhole Clubs
In September we started to run the popular Crafty Fox club again in Foxhole, thanks to funding from Sanctuary Housing. This is a free weekly club we run for under 12’s at the Crafty Fox Café. Children have a choice of things to do like crafts, games and music. It’s really starting to take off now and is a great boost for the Foxhole community.
As part of our continuing partnership with the Foxhole Community Centre, back in March the Centre was awarded some much needed funding to help run a drop in play sessions called Foxhole Fridays. These are after school play sessions offering a free, safe space for the children to gather, meet, play pool, table football and board games together and hopefully make new friends held at Foxhole Community Centre every Friday. They have proved to really popular and there are regularly over 40 children and young people coming along each session.
