Laura took 12 young people to the Orange Box free summer holiday activities in August. Here's how it went...
“As part of our Summer Social Activity Programme, I was super happy to accompany 12 of our Centre Users along to the Orange Box to take part in numerous activities. We were warmly welcomed by Jamie who was wonderful in accommodating us from the start. Following registration, and after Jamie had wowed everybody with his karaoke skills, Jamie took our families for a full tour of the facilities. The children, most of whom had never visited before were completely awe struck!
As we entered the atrium they were wide eyed and quite taken aback by this welcoming space, where high ceilings and exposed features were filled with current music, young people playing pool, karaoke and board games! 'This is right in the middle of the town?! I can’t believe it' is exclaimed with smiles, they couldn’t believe they had been missing out on this fabulous opportunity to meet other young people and integrate in such a fun and exciting way. It’s obvious from the offset that they will be returning independently when I hear one youngster, staring up at the climbing tunnel in amazement say 'Oh I wanna go! Can I please?!'
We were then shown the rehearsal rooms, in one end we see a dance group practising their impressive routines and then lots of huge inflatable zorb balls whizzing up and down the length of the rooms, and much to our amusement these zorb balls contained young people in hysterics with laughter! Our Centre Users giggled, another one to try out after the tour!
The media suite was next, filled to the brim with musical instruments, all of which were sampled with excited giggles by our families, they loved banging on the drums and tinkling along soft notes on the piano. We were then led to the art rooms where an upcycling workshop was taking place, teenagers and young people speckled with dashes of colourful paints were proud to show us their creations, chairs painted with flowers, stars or footballs ready to take home for their rooms at the end of the day. A real sense of achievement glistened in their eyes. Sarah the interior designer was kind enough to give our youngest group member of a tiny four months old, a wooden trolley to keep her toys and teddies inside, we all laughed as mum placed baby inside for a ride.
Next, situated right at the very top of the building and filled with glorious natural daylight was the skate park. We all ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ as we saw the fun that was being had on skateboards and scooters against the impressive graffiti walls. This was somewhat of a deal breaker for some of our young boys, one of which was already scooting past us all, up and down the half pipe 'Wheeeee'. Thirsty work! So back downstairs to the café for a juice. To the delight of us all, we were able to toast some marshmallows on the BBQ, have a coffee and a biscuit and join in some cooking fun whilst listening to the karaoke taking place nearby. We then all split up and were able to give our full attention to whatever activities we wanted to join in.
What an amazing place this is, the thriving atmosphere was an absolute joy to be part of and it was heart-warming to see our Centre Users integrating and having so much fun. Overall, we couldn’t have wished for a better day. Halifax is hugely blessed to have these youth facilities and we can’t wait to go back!”
