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At the heart of the community: Saltney Playscheme

Published: 14/08/2015

Funded by Saltney Town Council, the Saltney Playscheme has been running for 18 years and is supported by Flintshire Youth Services. The Playscheme, which this year runs from Monday 27 July through to Friday 14 August, offers children aged 5 - 11 the opportunity to participate in sports competitions, arts and crafts and games. This year 29 young people aged 13-23 have given up 3 weeks of their summer holidays and volunteered to help plan and deliver the Playscheme to ensure that the children have a great time. Flintshire Youth Services have provided the scheme with additional staff this summer and the all the volunteers have been given T shirts ensuring that they are recognisable to everybody. Cllr. Chris Bithell Cabinet Member for Education and Youth said: Such is the success and popularity of the scheme that many of the young people working as volunteers attended the Playscheme as small children, demonstrating how important it is to the local community. The volunteers will develop valuable experience that will stand them in good stead for their future in the workplace. Helping to run the Playscheme will develop teamwork along with communication, problem solving and decision making skills and adding to their personal development which prospective employers will be impressed with. Saltney Town Councillor Terry Walker said: The young volunteers were involved with the planning of the Playscheme and encouraging these young people to help make decisions at a local level will hopefully help them to understand the decision making structures which affect the lives of people living in local communities. It is very important that Saltney Town Council, Flintshire Youth Services and the local community continue to work together to support these summer schemes for children and young people. Community Youth Worker Julie Thomas said The Playscheme has become much more than a project where children and young people can have a great time; it has developed into an important community project with many benefits, not just for the children and young people, but also for the wider community.