Venture Outdoors Promotes Share's 'Me too' Fun Days

Waterways Ireland are working with Share Holiday Village, The Sports Council for Northern Ireland and Venture Outdoors to make a series of Outdoor Activity Come and try it Days accessible to all on Upper Lough Erne.

The Waterways Ireland - ‘Me Too’ Fun Day’s are a series of three fun days set up to attract minority ethnic communities, people with disabilities and low income families to participate in a series of adventure activities at Share Holiday Village – Lisnaskea.

The three fun days will actively target these user groups and individuals to participate in a range of water based activities that will attract people of all ages and abilities to Lough Erne and encourage them to take up a new hobby or sport. The event will be run over two weekends (three days) at the start of the summer to give participants the opportunity to progress in their chosen sport throughout the better weather.

The Dates are:

23 May – Me Too - Disability,
5 June – Me Too - Ethnic Minorities,
6 June – Me Too – Low Income Families

The funding for the programme has been made available through the Waterways Ireland Sponsorship Programme which is funding various projects in and around the inland waterways as Martin Dennany – Director of Marketing & Communications Waterways Ireland explains “The Waterways Ireland Sponsorship Programme is supporting 61 events on the waterways in 2010 aiming to increase participation in waterway and waterside recreational activity. The ‘Me Too’ Events are a good example of how people can get involved on the Erne”.

As leaders in the field of outdoor activities for disabled persons, Share are working in partnership with Venture Outdoors to help promote these fun days to target groups to showcase the wealth of opportunities available to them in the outdoors. Information will be made available on other such courses after the event so as to encourage ongoing participation on Lough Erne and elsewhere. As 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 ‘Me too’ Fun Days are a unique opportunity to work along side activity providers to promote activity events to the various groups.” 

The event will be run from 10am to 4pm each day with a range of 1.5 hr taster sessions in Canoeing, Kayaking, Windsurfing, Sailing, Banana Boat Rides, Jet boat rides, Raft Building and Cruises of Upper Lough Erne. Dry activities will be made available on the cruise for families with very young children including balloon modelling, story telling and face painting.

Share has also recently received a range of specialist equipment through a SPORT NI – Awards for Sport funding application to ensure access for all. The equipment includes a hoist, three specialist sea kayaks, paddles, spray decks and buoyancy aids and two tandem windsurfing boards with ‘I Do’ systems which enable sails to stay upright and allows closer coaching by instructors. These funding programmes will make a substantial difference to the already impressive service and fully accessible facilities that Share Provides as Rory Martin – Share Marketing Officer suggests;

“These fun days will hopefully encourage such user groups to use the waterways and partake in Outdoor Recreation when they see the range of opportunities available to them and witness first hand the openness of participation that exists. Our new specialist equipment will make a lasting impression on activities for disabled persons at Share and we hope to build upon these working relationships which are so important to the community in the future”.