Summary
Our project was for young adults over 21 years of age. We arranged several events for our young adults and carers. Staff and volunteers helped to make each event fun for everyone and having staff and volunteers onboard gave our carers time to enjoy the events and a well deserved break.
What Over 21's Social Evening did
Our chairperson, secretary and project co-ordinator got in touch with the relevent members and carers and organised names and numbers of who would be attending the events.
We organised the following events
Outdoor silent discos
Adult Cosmic Bowl at M & D's, Dining at The Mandarin restaurant in Motherwell, with a few songs at the dinner table. Wizard of Oz pantomine at the Tron Theatre was amazing, funny and we were made very welcome by staff. We had an additional theatre night at the Kings Theatre in Glasgow showing Chicago Blues Brothers, the music was fantastic with everyone dancing at their seats. Trustees, staff and volunteers had a lot of planning to do and it was so worth it to see everyone having a great time. Our other venues were Vue Cinema, Hamilton and a cosy get together with food and drinks at Burnside Community Centre. Theatre was a great success.
Our christmas party didn't go to plan as we could not find a hall to hire, we will need to plan ahead for 2023 Christmas party.
What Jack and Jill Support Group has learned
I have personally learned the following from delivering this project.
1) This project was for young adults and carers over 21, which meant not everyone in our group could be included.
2) Made a budget to plan ahead as the funding was for different costs eg. Wages, travel exp, events etc.
3) We introduced new short break activities as most of the events were December / January and we were able to organise indoor Theatre events, bowling etc.
The weather caused us to stick to indoor venues, rather than outdoor silent discos which were previously run in better weather conditions.
How Jack and Jill Support Group has benefitted from the funding
Benefit was building skills & knowledge of the project.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
Our outcomes and targets will be slightly different from our proposal due to the fact that we had a large turnover of staff during the year. Same principle though, to give our young adults and carers a well deserved break and some entertaining nights out.
Results
We achieved more than expected. Silent discos, bowling, theatre, Panto, Christmas dinner. December and January were busy and everyone said they had a great time out especially after all of the restrictions we have had to adhere to over the past few years during the pandemic.
Case study
Young Adult A
Before the project adult A had become a bit depressed due to the fact that she had spent a lot of time at home during covid. She felt really isolated. The funding we received from Creative Breaks made it possible to arrange various events, which resulted in making her happy to be mixing with other people again and enjoying the social aspect of going out again. Her favourite night out was Chicago Blues Brothers, where she sang and danced the night away.