Kids from Cumnock’s Yipworld recently took part in a fun-filled week of activities along with other groups from Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The team behind the charitable organiSation thought about what they could do to allow kids from the area to experience new things and see places they might never have seen before.
Yipworld successfully secured funding from the National Lottery Community Fund's Awards for All scheme, and they kick started a fantastic host visit with four other youth groups at the Tamar Manoukian Centre at Dumfries House.
After being successful with the funding application, Yipworld's ‘It’s a Small World’ project was launched.
The four visiting groups were Youth Action from Northern Ireland, TD1 Youth Hub and Escape Youth Services, both from the Borders, and Oasis Youth Club in Dumfries and Galloway.
The project aimed to allow the youngsters to see new places, meet new people and step outside of their comfort zone.
As part of the opening week of the project, around 30 kids from the five projects got to experience a visit to Dumfries House, took part in wall climbing and archery activities, and visited the excellent Cumnock Heritage Centre.
Cumnock’s Clydesdale restaurant opened its doors for the group and treated them all to a wonderful meal.
The evening also heard tales from Provost, Jim Todd, who shared some of his memories and experiences from serving in the Royal Navy and provided a motivational speech to all young people to believe in themselves and be what they want to be.
The Yipworld team then played host to the groups as they were all invited to see the wonderful facilities on offer at the Barrhill Road site.
After a successful few days of adventures, the hope is that the groups from the projects will keep in touch, and they can hopefully arrange more action-packed days together.
There are plans for the Yipworld kids to soon travel to meet up with the Dumfriesshire-based group involved in last week’s activities.
Yipworld charity development worker Robbie Allan said: “After Covid, a lot of people weren’t going out and about again and some of these kids have maybe never seen some places outside of their own area.
“Once we’ve done the hosting here, we’re going to do visits to the other groups.
“We’ll travel down to Dumfries and take part in different activities, and it lets some of the kids see some other places, so it ties in with them being able to see and explore different things.
“All the groups can keep in touch with each other and we can do some online things or apply for funding together and we can work towards something in the future.
“It's been brilliant to get a tour of Dumfries House and get archery and wall climbing and other teambuilding activities, so there are a lot of benefits for all of the kids throughout this.”
Find out more about Yipworld's activities at yipworld.org and at the Yipworld page on Facebook.
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