Interested in seeing what young carers in Westminster have been up to recently? Check out our Autumn newsletter here . Rock Climbing, Brighton and Quad Biking are all included, as well as our brilliant cake recipe!
Sports Day & Picnic
Since it’s the holidays and London has been hosting a brilliant Olympic Games, it seemed no summer schedule would be complete without a sports day!
Westminster Carers Service therefore organised a fun day of multi-sports, involving over 20 young carers trying their hand at football, badminton, rounders and more.
We assembled at Paddington Recreation Ground in the late morning and were soon involved in a competitive rounders match with the young people and WCS staff.
Unfortunately the rain came down during some six-a-side football games, but not before we were able to have a big lunch together in the sun.
It was a hugely enjoyable – and tiring – day with some superb sporting talent on show from the young people and a great way to finish a terrific summer of sport!
Family Trip To Brighton!
At the height of summer Westminster Carers Service and the Hammersmith and Fulham Young Carers Project took two coaches of young people and their families down to Brighton for the day.
We parked right on the sea front next to the Brighton Eye – a huge wheel that gives spectacular views of the city. Many families split off from the main group to skim stones, sample Brighton’s famous fish and chips and wander around the shops.
The highlight however had to be the pier. Half theme-park, half-games arcade, it stretches far out into the sea and provides tons of fun activities. 
We were really lucky with the weather too, as although it turned wet and windy in the afternoon, we were able to enjoy most of the day in blazing sunshine!
Rock Climbing & Badminton
In mid-August young carers from across Westminster came together to do rock climbing at the Seymour Leisure Centre.
Helped by two instructors we started-off in the practise room where the walls and low ceiling were completely covered by different grips. Luckily the floor was bouncy, which helped a lot with any falls! 
After this we were ready for the proper climbing. As you can see, the walls were high and pretty tricky to navigate. However, everyone made it up at least once and was able to abseil back down safely and enjoyably.
The group had lunch in the sports centre, before heading to the gym for games of badminton and football. It was a really fun day and a great experience was had by all.
Quad Biking & Abseiling at Stubbers
At the start of August, Westminster Carers Service and 20 young people travelled to Stubbers Adventure Centre for a day of abseiling and quad biking in the sun.
Stubbers is a huge place in the heart of the Essex countryside, offering tons of amazing outside activities. Unfortunately we couldn’t sample them all but what we did do was fantastic fun.
Racing around the bumpy quad bike track was terrific, while the abseiling gave us some great views but took guts to get down! We’re looking forward to heading back to Stubbers again sometime soon…
Self Portraits & British Land Trip
Twelve of our young carers recently kicked the summer holiday off with a 2-day art marathon! Working with Create Arts and taking inspiration from British Land’s unique art collection, we learned how draw self portraits accurately before abstracting them in to weird and wonderful designs.
The standard of work was hugely impressive with everyone creating large canvas portraits of themselves using acrylics and marker pens. 
A real highlight of the two days was a trip to British Land’s offices in Marble Arch. There we were able to view incredible works of art by Picasso, Matisse and Lichtenstein, using them as inspiration for our own work.
It was a brilliant two days of creativity and imagination and we would like to say a massive thank you to Create Arts for helping to organise it and British Land for being such wonderful hosts and letting us view such amazing art!
Summer Activities
It might still be wet and windy but officially it’s the great British summertime, which means one thing: activities! We’ve got stacks of different days planned with something that will appeal to everyone. Among them are…
- 2 days of sketching and canvas painting with CreateArts
- A weekend adventure centre residential for our Peer Mentors
- Another energetic day out at the fantastic Stubbers Activity Centre
- Rockclimbing, swimming and a sports day
- A 4 day workshop in how to write and illustrate comics with CreateArts
- A family trip to Brighton!
We have of course got tons of other, smaller activities and events up our sleeves but as always we are keen to hear what you want to do. So don’t hesitate – get in contact here!
Newsletter
‘Shadow Knight’ Comic Strip
If you haven’t seen it in our newsletter already, here’s the first glimpse of a terrific new comic strip written and illustrated by Omar and Ali Hussain. Click on the pages to enlarge them…
Big Ben tour and MP Karen Buck meeting
This half term young carers and staff from Westminster Carers Service took a tour up the world’s most famous clocktower – Big Ben. Starting in Portcullis House (opposite the Houses of Parliament) we were led up the 334 steps to the very top of the tower. There we saw magnificent views of London and heard the famous bells chiming on the hour.
It was a great experience filled with history and comes highly recommended. In the picture you can see just how huge each clock face is once you get to the top!
After a short rest we met the MP for Westminster, Karen Buck. We talked to her about the experiences of being a young carer and some of the challenges young carers face. She also spoke about the day-to-day job of being a politician and how she has been working on behalf of the people of Westminster. Again, it was a special experience and we were hugely grateful to meet and chat with her. You can see her speaking with some young carers in the picture below.
