15th Feb 2018

There’s no better way to combat the cold of winter than with the festive warmth of a Christmas Party. We had our two annual Christmas parties this year, in Dunoon’s Hanover Street Hall and Rothesay’s Holy Trinity Church for all of our young people. All of the children who came with their parents were delighted by the sound of jingle bells as Santa Claus appeared with presents for all. A fantastic Christmas dinner was also put on for everyone, meaning everyone returned home with bellies full of turkey, pigs in blankets, stuffing, and not to forget - festive cheer.

One of the strong winter favourites this year was our fantastic sewing sessions with Dani Halligan from Daisy Rock Designs. Over several weeks our young girls learned how to make beautiful Christmas stockings, make-up bags and pencil cases, as well as sentimental memory cushions and memory blankets. Following these, one of our young girls, using the skills she had learned from these sessions, was then able to make another memory blanket of her own at home as a lovely Christmas present for a close relative.

Our very own Burn’s Supper took place in the Hanover Street Hall where we enjoyed all of the traditions of occasion. Young people helped with the setting up of the event and preparing the beautiful haggis, neeps and tatties. All bases were covered with a more than entertaining ‘address to a haggis’, a Selkirk grace before eating, and finally ‘the immortal memory of Robert Burns’ to conclude the afternoon. Enjoyed by all, this is certainly an annual tradition that we will now continue to celebrate every year.

Help’s Employment Programme also ran for twelve weeks over the winter months, throughout which we linked up with local partners to deliver employability based activities that focussed on skills and personal development. Young people completed a range of certificated courses, in areas such as customer care, first aid, food hygiene, manual handling, and many more. Throughout the programme we worked with young people to strengthen their CV’s, learn valuable interview skills, meet local employers, learn about the roles and responsibilities of employers and employees, and finally to apply for jobs. The programme was a great success, with a number of young people having successfully found employment.

Our Community Taskforce has continued with their great work within the local area, and now a new team of successful applicants have been employed through the Community Jobs Fund. A great celebration of their hard work came at the Argyll & Bute Awards in Helensburgh as they became winners of the Youth Environment Award. It was a fantastic evening enjoyed by all, and we couldn’t be more proud of our Community Taskforce.