TACT Yorkshire and North East were recently awarded a donation of £1333 from the John Lewis Community Matters Scheme, which funded a trip to Mission Out in Leeds.

As there were funds left over from this event, we consulted with our young people to find out what they would like to do as another activity. The vote for quad biking, which none of them had done before, was pretty unanimous!

We took six of our young people to Yorkshire Outdoors, who kindly gave us a charity discount, where they got to try quad biking for an hour. The Yorkshire Outdoors staff were amazing with our young people, and kept them safe at all times.

It did get rather wet at times, but everyone really enjoyed biking around the track in the rain!

All our young people had a great time, and it was wonderful to witness them socialising and nurturing friendships made from previous social trips and events. We even managed to talk with them about our Connect community, which they are able to join upon turning 15. All were very excited to sign up.

When we spoke to our young people about the event, they all thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was the social aspect that they really appreciated:

“I can see other children my age. The event was really good, I get to be myself, and I get to see [other] people in care, so I feel included.”

“I get to make lots of new mates and have fun at the same time.”

“I feel happy – it makes a difference in my life because I get to see my mates.”

Bringing our young people together for activities such as this is invaluable from a social point of view. Here at TACT we run multiple events, which means our children get to make new friends, and reconnect with more established friendships that they have previously made.

A big thank you to John Lewis and our Yorkshire and North East staff for enabling this wonderful event!