Wear Here 4 Winter programme delivers festive fun and lasting memories for young people in Sunderland

Thursday 10 February 2022

In December, our Wear Here 4 Winter programme welcomed thousands of children and young people from across the city to take part in fun, festive activities and enjoy delicious hot meals right on their doorsteps.

Wear Here 4 Winter - known nationally as the Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF) - is funded by the Department for Education (DfE). In Sunderland, activities ran from Monday 20 December to Friday 31 December, offering young people the opportunity to participate in engaging and enriching activities and learn about healthy, nutritious food.

The programme was delivered by Together for Children, Sunderland City Council and 21 fantastic local organisations citywide. Alongside a range of sport, exercise and crafting activities, one of the main themes of the programme was to educate young people around healthy eating and enjoying a balanced diet. This involved opportunities for children and families to come together to prepare and cook their own meals; a skill they can take back home and use every day.

A coach at SportsCool Durham, one of the programme providers, said: "The healthy eating element definitely comes into play when young people are at SportsCool Durham. We want to offer every opportunity to be able to give them a full meal at lunchtime and we also attempt to get them engaged in preparing their own food.

"We have a healthy eating classroom-based session where children get to engage in that aspect, both through drawing and through demonstrating that they know what the different fruits and vegetables are. There's also food discussion, which gives us a chance to get a little bit of an insight into what they eat and what they like."

Sunderland Bangladesh International Centre, another Wear Here 4 Winter programme provider, offered a range of activities for young people to enjoy, including arts and crafts, dance, sports, and family cooking.

One parent whose children attended a session at the Sunderland Bangladesh International Centre said: "Both of my children have really loved it here. The people here are so lovely, so caring and they are very, very helpful."

Another parent commented: "I have absolutely loved it. The festive experience, everyone has really enjoyed it. We've had the cooking activities, all the children loved it. It's amazing. It's a good experience for them and it's helped them engage with different cultures and different backgrounds."

"The holiday club helped my two youngest children to be comfortable away from us as they had never been alone with anyone outside of the family," added another parent.

A young person who attended the sessions said: "It's very fun and thank you for everything. I really love it."

Another young person also shared their views on the programme: "It was cool and I liked having somewhere to go to see friends instead of the boring holidays."

Cllr Louise Farthing, Portfolio Holder for Children's Services, said: "The Holiday Activity and Food Programme is an incredibly important provision for many families and young people. I am delighted that Together for Children was able to deliver another fantastic and memorable programme. The memories created over the festive period will stay with the young people forever and I am now excited for the next HAF programme."

We are delighted to reveal that, following the success of our 2021 HAF programme, we'll be back for the Easter holidays with Wear Here 4 Spring. We'll be sharing further information on this soon, so watch this space!

Follow @tfcyouthvoice on Twitter and Instagram and Sunderland Youth Voice on Facebook to stay up to date with all things HAF.