Summer Activity Stay

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Summer Activity Stay

Summer Activity Stay (TEENS EVENT)

Mill Hill School, The Ridgeway, NW7 1QS

It's back to reality at the Teens Unite office today, as we reflect on another amazing Activity Stay! We left feeling so inspired by the young people; the way they pushed themselves to try new things and make new friends was just incredible. They built such a strong bond over the week - you would have thought they'd known each other for years! 

 

 

Take a look at our highlights video, featuring some of our favourite memories from the past week:




In case you missed our daily blogs; here's a recap of our 2019 Summer Activity Stay:

Day One

The first day of the Activity Stay was all about settling in and becoming comfortable with our surroundings and each other. After a few ice breakers - including traditional 'sports day' games - the young people were chatting away to each other and you could already tell that strong friendships would be formed over the week. After dinner, we were able to test our knowledge with our Quiz Night, led by Teens Unite Operations Manager Lesley. 

Day Two

On our second day we were thrilled to be joined by long-term Teens Unite supporters Kim-Leng and Matt, who ran their ever-popular Tai Chi, meditation and mindfulness workshop. The young people always find this workshop so beneficial in controlling their breathing and expressing their thoughts, feelings and anxieties through movement and sometimes words too. 

Carrying on with our Day Two theme of 'Expressing Myself,' our second workshop of the day was a Portrait Workshop with Richard, Mill Hill School's Portrait Artist. The young people took it in turns to draw each other using charcoal; we were so impressed by their attention to detail! 

After dinner, we were able to make some noise with our popular Junk Percussion workshop led by Junk Tank. We worked together to perform rhythmic beats on a variety of drums, shakers and percussion instruments.

Day Three

The third day of our Activity Stay saw the young people take on The Apprentice Challenge, where they worked as a team to fulfil a brief to design a new t-shirt and devise a business plan that together would raise funds and awareness for Teens Unite. They worked alongside accomplished businesspeople from eBay, Tesco, HSBC and Pretty Lavish on their design and business pitch, and we were completely blown away by the professional standard of the work they produced.  

In the evening we sang our hearts out at our Karaoke Night; usually the young people need a little extra encouragement to get involved with this activity - but not this year! They were up singing their favourite hits into the night. 

Day Four

By day four you'd think our week might slow down a little - but we still had so much in store! It was time to realise our true physical potential with our day at Herts Young Mariners Base. We were able to take on the climbing wall, test our hand-eye coordination with archery, and build our team work skills with bell boating. This was such an enjoyable day for all of the young people, and they all left feeling as though they had achieved so much.

In the evening we had a fantastic performance by Josh Brett, magician and member of the Magic Circle. He performed some mind-blowing tricks and illusions, leaving us wondering how his illusions worked.

Day Five

Although we were sad our week was coming to an end, our fifth and final day of the Activity Stay was just as good as the rest! The day began with some well-needed pampering after a busy week, followed by a chat with Chris and Jake from New Skills Academy, who kindly offer their online courses to our beneficiaries free of charge. 

After lunch, the young people spent some time setting up their Apprentice Challenge stands ahead of their presentation. In the evening, they pitched their t-shirt designs to a panel of judges, who chose the '#nolimits' design as their worthy winner! We were so blown away by every design and can't wait to have them produced and put on sale in the near future. 

Then, it was time for the Celebration Dinner. This was a great opportunity for supporters of Teens Unite to come along and see first-hand the work we do. As well as enjoying a three-course dinner, our guests were able to take a look at the work the young people have produced this week, including their portraits and t-shirt designs. 

 

We are so proud of all 18 young people who attended our Activity Stay; it was truly heartwarming and inspiring to see them come together as strangers and achieve so much together, leaving as close friends by the end of the week. As we always say, this is not 'goodbye,' it's just 'see you soon' - we hope this is just the start of a special journey with Teens Unite for all involved this week. 

This week wouldn't have been possible without the generous support of others; to all of our volunteers, photographers, Apprentice Challenge mentors, workshop leaders and companies who donated items towards our stay, we are so grateful and thank you for enabling us to bring young people diagnosed with cancer together. 

Over the coming week, we'll be reminiscing on the incredible memories we made by sharing photos, videos and more on our social media. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date! 

 

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