Youth club given £13,500 by Lottery for holiday fun

SONNING Common youth club has been awarded more than £13,500 in National Lottery funding.

The money will pay for holiday activities for the children who attend the club, which is based at Maiden Erlegh Chiltern Edge School in Reades Lane.

Club leader Sunny Smithers, who made the application to the National Lottery Community Fund, said it felt “amazing” to have been successful.

She said: “I am so pleased that we can give the children something they had been asking for. It has really lifted us.

“The first application I made for the youth club failed so I was hesitant about applying again but I’m really glad that I did.

“We now have some money for a holiday club. We have an end-of-year feedback form and one thing the kids really wanted was activities in the holidays.”

Ms Smithers said the holiday activities could include things like baking with the help of Springwater Church, which runs a weekly bread sale called Compassionate Loaf, cinema visits and a fun day in the village’s Memorial Park with outdoor activities such as slip and slide.

She was especially keen to provide some fun for children who don’t go away during the holidays or have anything to do.

She said: “There will be a summer fun week and then it will roll over to the October half term.

“We also want to have a fun day in the park so everyone can get involved no matter their age because that’s what the youth club is all about.

“[The club] gets them off the streets so there is less chance for antisocial behaviour. It’s our way of keeping them on the straight and narrow. It’s needed even more in the holidays.”

Parish clerk Philip Collings said: “We need to congratulate Sunny for taking the initiative and getting a very significant piece of funding.

“Some months ago she quietly applied to the National Lottery for a grant and we have been awarded £13,568 to provide a whole list of things.

“These include holiday activities, including crafting days, zorbing, dragon boat racing and all sorts of things, all carefully planned.”

The club has also applied for a councillor grant from one of the village’s representatives on South Oxfordshire District Council to provide the club with additional sporting equipment for activities such as boxercise.

Ms Smithers said: “Boxing and mental health go hand in hand. Obviously, risk assessments would be a huge part of it and we have researched it.”

She said the club was also seeking funding for mental health training for its leaders and coaches, adding: “We want be able to give the children the right care.”

Ms Smithers emphasised that the club is open to all, not just children from Sonning Common.

“There is no limit,” she said. “We have children from Henley, Emmer Green, Caversham and Reading. We also cover Kidmore End, Cane End and Stoke Row.

“We are getting between 20 and 40 children a night and we run two nights a week so quite a high number.”

“I’ve been here for 10 years now and it’s all about the children. It may be an admin headache but it’s to make the children happy.”

The club meets at the secondary school on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. For more information, email
youthleader@sonningcommon
parishcouncil.gov.uk