A big team effort for fun summer camp at Morpeth venue

Calmer Therapy, which has a base in Guide Post, is fairly new to the Stobhill community after opening its second venue when taking over the lease to the Youth and Community Centre in June.

The Stobhill Link and Morpeth division of Nourish Northumberland worked with their contacts throughout the area to secure food donations and much-needed hands on help over the summer.

They co-ordinated a huge operation in order to offer hot tasty and nourishing cooked meals for children from diverse communities. This included providing volunteer cooks for the summer camp, which was delivered four days per week for four weeks of the summer holidays.

Manager Brooke Burgess from Stobhill Link, who leads on the Nourish Northumberland Food Partnership for Morpeth, said: “We wanted to welcome Calmer Therapy to our community and help in some way with their launch.

“We introduced Calmer Therapy to Leading Link, who were managing the Holiday Activity Fund funding. This fund was created by Northumberland County Council and the National Lottery Foundation.

“We were approached and asked by Leading Link if any Morpeth groups could deliver an activity programme for children in our area this summer. We made introductions and offered our support in feeding breakfast and lunch to 63 children over a four-week summer activity programme.

“We have helped Calmer Therapy launch in the community with a big bang and we are grateful to have them in Stobhill providing much-needed youth provision. They put so much work into the Summer Camp and it was fantastic seeing all of these organisations working together as we coordinated the provision of meals on a large scale.

“Calmer Therapy also had volunteer cooks in their kitchen cooking as it required two kitchens and many hands to provide enough good quality meals for all of the children and young people in attendance.”

Donators to the programme included Morpeth Morrisons, which provided food for both Calmer Therapy’s activity club and for North East Sight Matters who delivered their club for sight impaired children from the Morpeth Scout Hut.

Morpeth Rotary Club made a cash donation towards food items for hot, hearty and healthy meals, St George’s Church in Morpeth provided volunteer cooks as well as pots, pans and recipes and St Aidan’s Church in Stobhill provided the free use of the kitchen.

Northumberland Communities Together Hub donated 80 litres of milk and 50 loaves of bread saved from supermarkets that would have been heading to landfill, Morpeth Lions Club provided meal ingredients and volunteer cooks with knowledge and experience in catering and batch cooking, Nationwide’s Newcastle branch, which has partnered this year with Stobhill Link, provided food donations collected in by staff and customers, through Fairshare and Asda Ashington, and Stobhill Link provided donations of in-date surplus waste food heading for landfill.

Three local businesses sponsored the holiday club by signing up and providing free food donations on set days.

Stobhill Bait donated packed lunches, The Shakespeare Tavern in Guide Post donated and delivered chicken curry and cake, and Lollo Rosso in Morpeth donated 15 large pizzas.

Donna Swan, director of Calmer Therapy, said: “We really appreciate the support from all organisations and donors who helped to provide meals.

“This alleviated some of the pressure on our team and we could focus more on activities on the days meals arrived through the Stobhill Link.

“We are excited to have a base in Stobhill and look forward to delivering our programme of youth work from the youth and community centre.

“Calmer Therapy and all of our attending children would like to thank everyone who helped throughout the summer. We made memories that will last a lifetime and much fun was had by all.

“The children were very well fed and enjoyed many activities and new learning experiences over the four-week Summer Camp.”