	CARERS of WEST LOTHIAN Providing Support, Information and a A Voice for Carers in West Lothian

Young Carers Summer Programme 2005

As usual the summer has been very busy.

I have spent time with each individual I am working with on a one-to-one basis and have met them at least twice during the holidays. I am currently supporting eight young carers. On top of this, the young carers group have met three times plus we went on a trip to the cinema. For our first trip with the group we spent a day at Creiff Hydro and went quad biking. This was a fantastic day and everyone had so much fun. We were split into two groups where one group had a more challenging course - that's the one I went on! Behind the hydro there is a disused quarry where the course has been built, after our induction and safety talk our fun began. It was brilliant and even though the young people thought I was going too slow they all loved it and have asked if we can go back.

For our second trip we went to Aberfeldy and stayed in Dunolly Centre, we met another group of young carers who were from Inverclyde and were staying for a week. While staying there we took part in Archery and had a competition where I think the girls won!! We then had some teambuilding where we had to build a craft of some sort, which would carry an egg safely from the top of a very high building to the bottom without breaking the egg. In the end we made 3 very different ones and the one we thought would break the egg worked and the egg didn't have a crack. The other 2 were less successful and we cracked the other 2 eggs. After that we went into Aberfeldy where we had dinner in an Indian Restaurant. This was a new experience for some, as they had never eaten at one before. The food was as fantastic as the company! After dinner we all met in the cottage, played some group work games then we all shared scary stories in the dark before going to bed. After breakfast the next morning we got all our gear together for White Water Rafting. We went down the Tay River for 7 miles and (luckily for us cowards), it hadn't rained for a while and the rapids were almost calm. We all loved the rafting and you could jump in at certain bits, and you could splash people in other boats. Finnie pushed Tracy off the raft, which was hilarious. We seemed to get stuck on rocks a lot but it just added to the excitement. Once we got to the bottom of the river we got a bus back up to the centre where we had a picnic lunch. After lunch all the young people got harnessed up and they got a chance to go climbing and abseiling, -then had to climb very high to the top of a telegraph pole and jump off. It looked very scary but they all did very well. Their last challenge was to climb up crates as they built them up and again the young people were brilliant! The residential is one of the best bits about the group and it's a good experience to spend a long time with them.

For the third trip (which is still to happen) we are going to Edinburgh for the day. We hope to buy tickets to watch something in the festival and then to the Royal Mile to see street acts.

Cinema Trip In July thirteen of us from West Lothian Young Carers Partnership and three from Mid Lothian went to the Dominion Cinema in Morningside. We went to see the 'Fantastic Four' and it was really good. For those of you who are too young (like myself) it is based on an old comic and is about five astronauts who went to space and were all exposed to some radiation. They all got some new powers, four used theirs for good and one was evil! The cinema was lovely and the staff were very helpful. This was a really nice trip and it was thanks to Mr William and Mrs Fiona Graham from Blackburn. It was their Silver anniversary and instead of receiving gifts they asked people to donate money to the young carers. With the money they received they paid for us to go the cinema and get some popcorn and a drink of juice. Thank you very much Mr & Mrs Graham for organising this. We all had a really good time!

Radio Forth Interview On Thursday 14th July Wilma, David and Jordan went to Edinburgh to the Radio Forth Studios where Gino interviewed the boys. Gino had read about our website in the Evening News and contacted Wilma to arrange a meeting with some young carers. When we arrived we had to sign in then we were taken downstairs to a studio and got a wee practice run. David and Jordan did all the hard work while I watched and supported them. They spoke a little about their home life and explained a bit about the support they receive from us. The main part of the interview was about the website so they explained how we came up with the idea of it and how we developed it and what our plans were for the future. At the end we got a chance to look through the window and see the main studio where Grant Stott was busy working and doing his show. He waved to us through the window; it felt quite cool being there! This interview will be included in the 'Forth Action' piece in August so listen out for us on Radio Forth!

Wilma Philpot
Young Carer Development Worker

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