Guildford BlueSpace - Surrey Young Carers

I am a Children & Young Persons Coordinator for Surrey Young Carers (part of Action for Carers, Surrey) and had an event for 12-15 year old young carers on Friday 1^st August.  We had 13 young carers join and we all took part in the thorough instruction and safety briefing at the start.  We went from Dapdune Wharf and spent an hour on the River Wey learning how to Paddleboard, playing games and having fun in the lovely sunshine. All the young carers made a snake and paddled back to the Wharf to finish with a game of paddleboard water polo.  It was a successful event, and they all looked happy and tired when we had finished.

It’s very import for our young carers to have time away from their caring roles, meet other young carers and have some fun, especially in the school holidays when their caring roles often increase.  It’s great to be able to offer them interesting and exciting activities to take part in, including this great activity facilitated by AquaPaddle.  I received some great feedback following the event.

E said:                 “It was fun and the games were fun.  The instructors were nice and I was very tired afterwards.”

P said:                 “It was fun and exciting and something some people won’t do often.  We paddled up the canal, I nearly fell off three times, my heels came up but I managed to save myself. We played a game at the end which was lots of fun.”

A Mum said:      “A lovely opportunity to try something we wouldn’t have ordinarily tried. It supported my son’s resilience, trying a new activity and gave an opportunity for him to be brave and develop the value of courage. Initially he said he would only kneel on the paddleboard but within a few minutes he was standing, this gave him such a sense of achievement.”