HopScotch’s 2015 Report for Johnston Smillie Ltd

How the grant was spent

In February 2015 Johnston Smillie Ltd very kindly awarded us a grant of £4,710 which enabled 19 children to experience a HopScotch break during our 2015 Respite Programme. The recipients of this grant were 2 groups of children from the following organisations:

• Jack Kane Community Centre is based in Craigmillar an area of high deprivation where children suffer as result of parental drug/alcohol misuse, parental mental health issues, parental long term or terminal illnesses. Others suffer as a result of domestic violence, neglect, bereavement or are from single parent families who are affected by unemployment and very poor social housing. We felt these children really deserved a break and a chance to have fun. 12 children from Jack Kane experienced a HopScotch break from 22nd – 27th June 2015.
• Children from Rowanfield School in Edinburgh experienced a HopScotch break from 14th – 18th September 2015. Rowanfield is a multi-disciplinary city wide educational provision for primary aged children identified as having severe and often complex social, emotional and behavioural needs. Children who attend Rowanfield have not had a positive experience in a mainstream setting, where it has been decided their placement can no longer be sustained. This often results in low confidence and poor self-esteem. These children have a spectrum of needs spanning broadly between challenging through to vulnerable behaviours. All the children who experienced a HopScotch break suffer as a result of very difficult home environments such as having a family member in prison, parental mental health issues, parental drug or alcohol misuse, domestic violence or neglect. Although this is a very challenging group we felt these children really deserved a break and a chance to have fun. 10 children from Rowanfield benefitted from a HopScotch break from 27th April – 1st May 2015.

Therefore in all 19 children received a total of 95 days of respite at Ardvullin due to the fantastic fundraising efforts of Johnstone Smillie.

The past year – 2014/15

Our 2015 programme commenced on 24th March and ran for 32 weeks until 30th October, providing 294 children with a respite break at Ardvullin. For many of the children it will be the first time away from their home area, and as the majority of the children are young carers, it will also the first time having a respite from their caring responsibilities at home. For other children this was their only holiday and the chance to experience what in our opinion, every child should be entitled to – the chance to enjoy a carefree break in a safe and caring environment where they can make new friends, have fun and experience the beauty of the countryside.

Anna, our Project Worker, has continued to provide an exciting activity programme at Ardvullin and her tireless energy ensures that each child has the best possible HopScotch experience in the safest possible environment.

One child (Brogan) commented “Once upon a time there lives a girl called Anna and she shows us lots of lovely things. We went on the gondola and then we paddled in the water it was so fun.” Brogan aged 9

During 2015, we worked with organisations from the Highlands, Fife, Strathclyde, Perthshire, Tayside, Lanarkshire, West Lothian, West Dunbartonshire, Midlothian and Aberdeen-shire from young carers organisations, women’s aid group, HIV support groups, community organisations, family centres and schools.

As well as continuing to provide the old favourite activities such as horse riding, canoeing and indoor climbing we have also added another beach trip to our list of activities. Camusdaroch is situated near Arisaig and is a beautiful beach with long sand dunes and gorgeous clear waters. We sometimes combine a visit to this beach with a stop at Glenfinnan to see the viaduct and the ‘Harry Potter’ steam train. We introduced two new activities – The Sea Explorer boat trip and biking. The Sea Explorer offers a unique wildlife exhilarating tour of Loch Leven, and biking around the tracks near Ardvullin became very popular throughout the programme, with one girl learning to ride her bike for the first time.

Here is a quote from Fife Young Carers:

“From a young carers point of view the HopScotch break is a fantastic respite break from their home responsibilities. The children had a fantastic new experiences in a beautiful comfortable setting and developed new friendships, new skills and laughed – a lot!” Roy MacGregor

Here are some comments from the children:

“I loved our Hopscotch holiday because everything is really, really nice and all of the activities give me a chance to do something I have never done before so thank you so, so much. I really truly love Hopscotch.” Johnny aged 10

“The holiday was great, every day was better. I enjoyed the high wire the best. Thank you!” Boyd aged 10

“My favourite thing was horse riding but I liked everything it was fun. The sea life sanctuary was interesting and also fun.” Martyn aged 11

“I liked going on the speed boat because it was great and fun. I liked the dressing up clothes – thank you for letting me stay it was exciting. Anna is nice.” Shannon aged 8

“One of my favourite things was biking – it was way fun. I loved it and it was great going down the hill. I liked the Harry Potter train too. Charlotte aged 9

2016 Programme

Our 2016 programme will commence on Monday 21st March and will run for 32 weeks until Friday 28th October. We hope to provide 350 vulnerable children living in Scotland with a much needed break at Ardvullin, where they can enjoy a fun and memorable break in a safe and supportive environment and develop their full potential.

Thank you

We are very grateful for the support of Johnston Smillie during 2015 which helps our work to continue by providing free respite breaks for Scotland’s most vulnerable children – thank you so much!