Blackpool youth charity delivers hundreds of activity packs

The Boathouse Youth group, which has centres at Grange Park and Lytham Road, South Shore, normally runs a range of activities for youngsters aged from five to 18, including games, sports and creative arts activities from its centres during the evenings.

But with the current restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, the children and young people are stuck at home with their families, unable to go to school or attend the usual Boathouse evening sessions.

So the charity’s youth teams are making up activity packs which include paper, felt tips, cake-baking kits, plant seeds and other resources which are delivered to hundreds of homes, mostly every Monday.

There are also online activities, some of which are run in tandem with the kits in the activity packs.

Laurance Hancock, chief executive officer of The Boathouse Youth, said: “These are tough times and if you are a single parent living in a flat with a couple of kids, and you can’t go out to the park, what do you do?

“Our youth services team have been working tirelessly preparing the packs and delivering them to hundreds of households each week.

“As well as the activity packs, we’ve also been putting together food parcels for the families on free school meals.

“Since the lockdown, families have been struggling not only with food but with electricity bills which have gone tripled because everyone’s at home.”

Mr Hancock said the group’s costs had been covered by donations and by the money saved in other ways.

He explained that parents should refer to the group’s Facebook page for more information on the times the packs were available.

He added: “A new pack will be available every single week with a different set of activities.”