A very successful and fruitful Easter Playscheme helped by our new Neighbours in Business ‘The Metro bank’. We were lucky enough to have 4 volunteers come in every Wednesday and support the young people in any shape or form.

Apart from our usual mix of indoor sports like table tennis, pool and play station comp we tried something totally new and different this time. We introduced singing and acting to the playscheme loosely based on Oliver the musical. One of our parents gave up her time to come in and teach the Young people songs from Oliver (thank you Gillian) and our lovely Drama people from Pascal Theatre l taught them how to act. This was indeed an eye-opener for all staff and we were surprised and delighted by the talent we had at our scheme.

We were not just confined to singing and acting, oh no! We also had 2 lovely trips out. One to the Natural History Museum where we queued to see the fantastic Dinosaur exhibition, it was worth the wait. The other trip was to Mudchute Farm where we mingled freely with the sheep and fed the Llamas. The weather was once again on our side and fun was had by all.

The second week was once again a really busy one for our Young People as our acting and singing came together to produce a showcase of what we had learned so far, in front of a small audience made up of parents and office staff. The young people brought tears to our eyes as they were superb and now we can’t wait until they perform it in front of a much larger audience later on in May.

Yet again we had 2 Fantastic trips.

By popular demand we went back to the Wetlands Centre and again the day was fantastic fun. We even managed to get some pond dipping into our day which was very exciting, especially when we caught a small looking reptile!

Our second trip saw us showing off our skills at the bowling alley where the girls were victorious over the boys.
We had such a surprise on Friday as during the party we had a visit from Mr. Metro and staff who came bearing gifts of pens and lollies which fitted in nicely with our end of play scheme party.
I would once again like to thank all the parents for their great support and generous donations of food and drink for this Easter.

We are all looking forward to our May half term all be it for 4 days.

Would you like to gain experience working with children & young people aged 8-12yrs?

Then why don’t you volunteer at our holiday play schemes? We run them every school holiday throughout the year. We try to make sure that everyone has lots of fun and gets the chance to learn new things & go to new places.

The dates when we need people are:

• 5th to 16th April
• 31st May to 7th June
• 5th August – 9th August
• 12th August – 16th August
• 19th August – 26th August
• 30th August.

This is a fantastic opportunity to develop your skills, gain a reference and take part in training.

If you are interested then please contact James on:
Tel: 0207 404 7274
e-mail: youth@dragonhall.org.uk

Thanks to the Playscheme Co-ordinator Jasmine Roynon and Fathia Abdulrahman (other playscheme worker) for working tirelessly to improve the holiday programmes. They were supported by Junel Ahmed, Samiur Rahman (both senior volunteers) and Jacob

Activities included a trip to the Clink Museum and the Transport Museum, bowling and football, a street dance session and the halloween party.

The next Playscheme is from Feb 15th to 19th 2010, 10am to 4pm. If you are aged between 8 and 12 why not come and join us at Dragon Hall. The cost is £16 if paid before Jan 15th and £20 after that date. 2 or more siblings one pays full price and the rest pay half price.

‘Playscheme is fun, exciting and always full of surprises!’ Junel