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This project has now ended Saturday Circles started in March, in October 2006. Over 10 months we supported 10 young disabled people to create their own person centred plans. The group very much mirrored Saturday Circles in Ely with the activities the young people took part in. Saturday Circles in Ely spent the last year creating a friendship resource pack, which could be used by young people to help think of ways of meeting new friends. They also took part in a variety of activities such as bowling, the cinema, going to a night club and meals out. Unfortunately the funding for both groups ended in September 2007, so the groups have now ceased although some of the young people meet up to continue their friendships or contact each other. This was initially one of the main aims of the group. The young people would like the group to continue and are applying for funding to keep it going. The success of Saturday Circles was marked by a Celebration event called Mayhem 2007. This was a day full of activities such as smoothie making, T shirt printing, mask making, A Dreaming Tree, Be a Pop Idol, aromatherapy, beauty treatments, reflexology, a variety of different music, outside games, information stalls, fruit bingo and a bouncy castle. The event was open to all and many people came, including members of the public who were not connected to Saturday Circles. Most of the people who helped run the activities were volunteers. The day was great, the sun shined and people had fun. It was a really good example of inclusion and it was very natural. The main focus on the day was the young people being presented with their own person centred plans and their copy of the friendship pack. It really was a terrific day and an amazing group to be involved with. See below for more information; this is how this web page looked while the project was still active: ‘Saturday Circles’ is a project that has been funded by Cambridgeshire Connexions until September 2007 and is a joint venture with the ‘My Fantastic Life’ Project. The group supports 14 disabled and non disabled young people to meet fortnightly at a resource centre in Ely, spending time together, developing friendships and working together to compile their own person centred plans. The young people have led the group, deciding what activities to do and helping to organise them e.g. going to the Cinema via train, Bowling, Lunch out, Pizza and DVD night, visiting the Ely Museum, Going away for a weekend to a festival and organising an “inclusion for all” event and a celebration disco. We always get together as a group either at the start of the session or the end to discuss the previous activity and to plan the next. For the majority of the disabled youngsters and some of the non disabled, these have been new experiences and the first time they have spent time with their peers without parental support and supervision. As the months have passed and confidence has grown for each individual, true friendships have evolved between a number of disabled and non disabled youngsters and the beginning of real inclusion has started. The feedback we have received from the young people is extremely positive and this is evident in the effort they put into all the activities, whether it has been going out to the cinema or working together to create their own plans. Parental feedback has also been extremely positive. We have had comments such as: “my child has really grown in confidence” “it has made her aware that it’s ok to be different and she has really matured” “it’s great to see him mixing with friends and not relying on me” This has resulted in parents wanting to be really supportive of the group and volunteering their help at some of the events. Everyone has been treated as an equal and the fact that both disabled and non disabled youngsters are creating their own plans really made this apparent. Everyone was working on the same subject e.g. Who am I?, Places I go, Gifts, Likes and dislikes, Dreams for the future etc. It has also been a tool to help them to interact with each other, as they would pair up and help each other out. The plans are impressive and personal to the individuals and are now the property of the young people to be added to and shared as they wish. Our next two aims are to create a DVD on friendship and to begin a new friendship group in the March area. |
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Send mail to: information@circlesnetwork.org.uk with
questions or comments about this web site.
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