Adventure Away From Home!

On the 7th February, Space Youth Project were invited to Avon Tyrrell for an Adventures Away From Home funding project. It allowed 8 young people and 2 team members to attend a weekend residential full of amazing activities!

Charlie, one of the attendees said "the residential at Avon Tyrrell was an amazing experience. We slept in cozy wooden cabins and engaged in many activities: archery, climbing, high roles and kayaking to name a few. We were welcomed by friendly staff and enjoyed delicious cooked meals. Everyday was different and we were encouraged to have a go at the variety of activities on offer even if we had never done it before. The whole experience was amazing and we had so much fun, making memories and friends along the way."

Another young person, Steph, also had this to say about their experience at the residential. "We had a really wonderful time out in the forest. Getting to do activities that we don't usually have the opportunity to, like canoeing and archery, was amazing. It felt adventurous; I think we all gained some courage at one point or another, whether that was when meeting new people or standing on top of a wooden platform about to take a leap of faith into the air. It was such a privilege to explore the outdoors with some really great people. I didn't stop smiling and laughing all weekend." 

We are incredibly grateful for this funding opportunity and our young people and team had a fantastic time on their adventure away from home!

Update from the Falkland’s!

Phoebe has been in touch with Charity and sent some more stunning pictures and very cute penguins! It does look like a warmer day than their first update!

Phoebe went to Yorke Bay where they saw dolphins and young fluffy Gentoo penguins and then walked a few kilometres from there to Gypsy Cove where the burrowing Magellanic penguins live.

Phoebe is applying to universities and is looking to do art history.

Phoebe tells us about their experience so far in their own words.

The people here are very friendly, they smile at you when you walk down the streets without fail and wave at you in their cars,

There’s a diverse mix of people, coming from Argentina, the Philippines, India and South Africa as well as British people of course. The locals here are very openly set on keeping the Falklands British.

Walking down the seafront in Stanley there is occasionally some penguins fishing, you can watch the wildlife from a café called “the waterfront” and it’s very pleasant, it’s a tradition to go there every Sunday for me and my mum.

The tourism is huge here, large cruise ships come in every other day when the weather is good, and you can tell the tourists apart from locals because they all wear matching red or blue coats. They come to Stanley harbour on small speedboats, and they get absolutely soaked when it’s a windy day.

The biggest cruise ship had 3000 people onboard, almost more than the entire population on the islands and there are so many gift shops it is crazy.

I am going to get a job soon where I warden tourists away from the penguin colonies at the beach, there has been some bird flu that has killed a few colonies of penguins, but the population is swiftly recovering, lots of baby king penguins are hatching.

I spend a lot of my time at the Falklands library, it’s really nice there and it’s a great resource to help me with applying to universities soon.

Adventures in the Falkland Islands

One of our young people, Phoebe, who until December 24 attended our Weymouth youth group has moved to the Falkland Islands.

Phoebe wanted to keep in touch with the youth workers Jane and Charity that lead the Weymouth group and keep them updated with their adventures.

After a very gruelling 20-hour flight with a stop at Ascension Island they arrived in their new home, the Falkland Islands.

It is very windy there and about 11-16 degrees which is the summer! And like a typical British summer it rains on and off quite a bit!

Their coat is getting a lot of exercise as everything is very open and so no shelter from the wind! Though Phoebe is preparing for wintertime when it snows and can reach temperatures of -10!

As well as the very cold temperatures, prices for fresh fruit and veg are astronomical on the island, a quarter of a melon costing £4! However, meat and eggs are cheap as there is a lot of farming.

Phoebe has already had some adventures and seen some amazing wildlife as you can see from the pictures they have sent.

Phoebe is creating a portfolio of penguin artwork to sell in the gift shops on the island

Phoebe will keep Space updated of their island adventures by keeping in contact with Charity and Jane.