Monday 20 February 2006
Climbing the walls at half term

Climbing walls and martial arts were among the activities keeping youngsters in Goldington entertained during the half-term holiday.

BPHA, working in partnership with Connexions, the county and borough councils' street rangers and sports development teams, held a programme of activities at Church Lane Community Centre, for children aged from five to 16 years.

Activities included Capoeira, a Brazilian martial arts combined with dance, freestyle football and basketball sessions, health and beauty tips and DJ workshops.

Up to 660 places were available to children from Goldington.

Paolo Grasso, aged nine, was among those taking part. He said: "I have been climbing and learning new martial arts. It is really good. The half-term would be really boring without activities like this."

The activity week was held with the help of a grant made to BPHA by the Bedford Kempston Regeneration Partnership (BKRP).

BKRP awarded a £38,000 grant to BPHA at the end of last year to spend on its Neighbourhood Renewal Project, which is working to regenerate Goldington, as well as other areas within Bedford, Wootton and Kempston, to improve quality of life for residents.

The money is being spent on various community activities, including clean-up days, gardening projects, community surveys and youth events.

Karen Nicholson, Neighbourhood Renewal Co-ordinator at BPHA, said: "These activities would not normally be provided during half-term holidays and the places on such schemes are usually limited to children over nine years. We have been able to put on a really varied programme of events for a wider age group thanks to this funding.

"Offering these constructive activities is part of BPHA's commitment to improving quality of life in the communities it serves. As well as keeping young people amused, the event also helped us to talk to the young people about the kinds of things they would like to get involved in.

"We are hoping to establish a group of youngsters who can give their opinions whenever we consider youth issues and events."

The grant from BKRP is also helping to fund further research into the next steps for BPHA's regeneration of the areas. Work is underway to create a 'toolkit' of key local data, which will help to identify the areas in greatest need of regeneration.

BPHA hopes to use this information to work with local organisations, such as the police and local councils, to bring about further improvements.