ROCK ON! The Albert Street Youth Forum reaches new heights in Lurgan Park!
On Saturday 15th May Albert Street Youth Forum, reached new heights by having a rocking experience on a mobile climbing wall in Lurgan Park facilitated by Life (www.onegreatadventure.com). This was just one of the exciting outdoor activity sessions that the group have taken part in over the last couple of weeks. Other activities included Nature trails around Craigavon lakes, archery sessions, orienteering and climbing at Lurgan Park..
These outdoor activity ‘taster sessions’ have been put in place by the Venture Outdoors - Creating Healthy Communities project with the aim to help those from disabled, minority ethnic and disadvantaged communities all over Northern Ireland access the outdoors, encourage them to take part in outdoor activities and also learn about where they can get involved in outdoor activities in their local area.
Offering the taster sessions is the first step to achieving this goal. Albert Street Youth Forum was established in February 2008 as part of the Albert Street Resident Association, one of their aims is to help young Lithuanians families to participate in outdoor activities. The Youth Forum is only 1 of 40 groups across Northern Ireland receiving these taster sessions. Sharon Donnelly, Venture Outdoors Development Officer, commented that; “This is a fantastic opportunity for the group to enjoy getting outdoors and help in terms of raising awareness of all outdoor activities that are available within their locality.”
Maeve Curran, Venture Outdoors Marketing Officer, highlighted, “CAAN has great hopes for the ‘Venture Outdoors – creating healthy communities’ project and the role it will play in engaging with disabled, minority ethnic and disadvantaged communities in outdoor recreation.”
The Venture Outdoors Project is a 3 year initiative of the Countryside Access and Activities Network and has been provided with a grant of £470,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities Programme and Ulster Gardens Villages.
For more information on the Venture Outdoors – Creating Healthy Communities Project contact Maeve Curran 02890 303 930 maeve@countrysiderecreation.com
