Summer in Ordsall
with children and young people
2003
What is SAYO?
SAYO is a project for children and young people in Ordsall that provides, funds and
facilitates sport, play, art and youth activities.
Youth Workers, Sport Development officers, Play workers and Ordsall Community Arts
work together and liase with other agencies and voluntary groups, consulting with children
and young people and actively responding to their needs.
A range of play, sports and art activities and trips out to various sports and leisure facilities
are organised for after school and early evening by the play and sports development team. At
the youth centre there are also daytime and evening activities that young people can partake
in.
During school holiday times the above programme is extended and operates within the
daytime and includes one weekly family trip out to a chosen resort.
It is the aim of SAYO to provide high quality activities that meet the needs of all children and
young people within Ordsall Community
SAYO Summer: - Sport, play and art activities.
Use of Ordsall Park daily 10am – 4pm, providing sports, arts and games, except Friday when
we held a family trip. We worked in partnership with Sure Start who had 1 worker and a
station on the park for families with children under 4years old. The aim here was to provide
age appropriate activities for younger children and offer advise and support to parents/carers
if needed.
In addition to the activities on the park SAYO ran an Art Club, which was open daily from
1pm – 4pm at Radclyffe School.
Weekly numbers.
Park
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Week 2
89
65
68
51
Total overall = 277
Week 3
52
55
Playday
87
Week 4
66
61
23
51
Week 5
72
72
63
50
Week 6
81
46
51
75
PAYP
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Week 2
16
10
8
110
Week 3
27
19
Playday
21
Week 4
11
10
11
9
Week 5
11
10
10
9
Week 6
9
8
13
17
Week 3
19
16
Playday
16
13
Week 4
14
10
20
19
14
Week 5
16
18
10
19
7
Week 6
10
8
11
15
Total overall = 47
Arts Club
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Week 2
19
5
15
21
12
Total overall = 70
Activities on Ordsall Park
For 5 weeks of the summer holidays, Monday to Thursday, 10.00am – 4.00pm the SAYO
Sports, Play and Arts team ran a wide variety of activities for children aged 5 – 16 years.
These included various sports, cricket, rounders, rugby, hockey, football etc, arts and crafts,
face painting, large games e.g. connect 4, jenga and inflatables. This scheme ran on an ‘open
access’ basis where children and young people were free to come and go and join in with the
activities at their leisure.
We did attract a number of children aged 4 years and under whose parents and carers stayed
with them whilst they played. We made some good relationships with some local
grandparents and parents, one of whom became a volunteer with us for 3 weeks. Also two 16
year old girls volunteered with us from the Early Intervention scheme in Eccles. They worked
daily for 5 weeks and are now going on to do the Duke of Edinburgh Awards through SAYO
and the Watersports Centre.
In addition to this we ran a daily swim bus to Clarendon Baths and one afternoon trip each
day for example visiting the Watersports Centre, horse riding, bowling etc. Every Friday we
had a family day trip - Chester Zoo, Waterworld, Southport.
The last Friday we stayed on the park for our final day and held a ‘Party in the Park’, where
families came to join in our Hawaiian theme.
PAYP Activities
In addition to the above 4 casual workers who were funded via PAYP worked daily on the
park, concentrating each week on a particular sport i.e. football, netball, rugby and hockey.
Then at the end of the summer they took teams from Ordsall to join in with the city wide
sports competition. Here the children and young people were given the opportunity to use
their skills that they had further developed during the summer and enter into the competitions.
Two very successful days.
Sure Start stay and play sessions
Every Tuesday afternoon in Radclyffe school Sure Start held “play and stay” sessions where
parents/carers could go with their younger children and let them play away from the hustle
and bustle of the activities on the park. Age appropriate activities were provided for the
children and parents were able to chat with others over coffee – it became a good meeting
place and something that parents suggested they would like more of in the future. Also at
these sessions a van bringing fresh fruit and vegetables came and families were able to buy at
a very reasonable cost. This was an extension of what happens on a weekly basis with Sure
Start during term time.
Arts Club at Radclyffe School
Every afternoon from 1pm – 4pm two arts workers opened the art club in the community
room at Radclyffe primary school. Initially this scheme was for children aged 8+ and the
theme was going to be ‘Telling Tales’ where each week they would focus on a traditional
story and the children would make props and costumes and enact the story.
However, what we found was that many children under 8 years wanted to join this scheme
and so the workers adapted it accordingly.
I feel there is a great need within the Ordsall community to provide more basic arts/play
sessions, especially for the children under 8 years and hopefully we will look at aiming to
provide such provisions in the future. The 2 arts workers worked very well on this scheme
and successfully managed to provide activities to suit the needs of the children. However, at
times due to the number of younger children who stayed with parents/carers, the group, on
occasions did have a chaotic feel about it. If we repeat this in the future I feel we need to look
at splitting the age groups to bring more focus to the activities without loosing momentum.
Sure Start Station
After distributing the summer publicity it soon became apparent that as well as working with
the ‘regular’ young people with whom SAYO engage on a weekly basis, we were also going
to attract younger children and families who wanted to join in the fun on the park. Therefore
at the Ordsall Providers Meeting in June it was agreed that Sure Start would employ a worker
and station him/her on the park to offer support to the families of younger children.
This in principle was a good idea but if it is to be repeated in the future would need more
careful planning as many issues arose for the SAYO staff team from this.
After week 2 the Sure Start station moved from the park and positioned itself inside
Radclyffe School with the Art scheme. From this I think we learned that there is a great need
for a play & stay provision that offers family support and gives parents and carers of younger
children the opportunity to meet and chat over coffee whilst the children play.
August 6th National Playday ‘Make a noise for play’
This years theme was Make a noise for play and on the 6th August we held a big event on
Ordsall Park. Together SAYO, community development, sure start, Ordsall Community Arts
and the events team, planned and delivered a wide range of activities for families with
children aged birth – 12years. The event lasted from 11am – 2pm and we provided a
barbeque that ran throughout. The weather was glorious and we attracted approximately 400
people. At 2pm we ended the event with Ordsall dacnce project doing a small show alongside
the samba band. Children were given whistles to blow and we made “a big noise for play!”
Ordsall Youth Centre
The summer is often a quieter time for general Youth Club session. As a result for the 3 years
that the current Ordsall Youth Centre has been open, this time has been used to contact new
groups of young people and experiment with different pieces of work and short specialised
projects. The summer of 2003 was no different, and when the Youth Centre was open over
the first 4 weeks of the holidays, the team agreed to focus upon a bicycle project, a mural for
the side of the building, music workshops, the windsurfing club, continuing with the 10 to
13’s work and outreach with the older age group.
Bicycle project
A bicycle project ran last summer and proved to be so popular with the young people that it
was decided to run once again. Wednesday afternoons were set aside for fixing and
maintaining bikes, whilst Fridays were used for cycle rides out around the wider Salford and
Manchester area.
Prior to the start of the project the local Police had donated some stolen and recovered
bicycles that could be done up at the Youth Centre and sold on to young people at a vastly
reduced rate. Also a national organisation, Bike Links, came and helped young people to
learn more about fixing their bikes safely and correctly on the Wednesdays.
The project was received well by young people, with a broad range of age groups accessing
the fixing sessions, with some being committed for the whole 4 weeks to fixing either their
own, or the ex Police bicycles. Those young people that took part learnt a lot about their own
bikes and the ongoing care of them. The rides were also successful, unfortunately one was
rained off, but the others; a ride up the Irwell to the M60, a ride to the Quays and a trip to the
Velodrome, were all greatly enjoyed by young people. Young people put a lot of effort into
taking part in these, learnt more about their local area, cycle safety and got to have a go on
one of the best indoor cycle tracks in the world. Although the project was a success, some of
the sessions were not as well attended as they could have been by young people.
Music Work
The music work focused upon enabling groups of young people to learn more about and
experiment with the range of music equipment available in the Youth Centre. The equipment
ranged from easily accessible EJay computer software, through DJing decks and
microphones, to specialised music software that enables young people to create music from
scratch.
Several groups participated in sessions around DJing and Mcing and all enjoyed the
opportunity to create music and learn new music skills. The young people were involved in
setting up the equipment, and then encouraged to work together in developing their djing
skills, whilst understanding the value of what they were using. The groups that came into
session during the summer were calm and willing to listen and learn from the workers, in
contrast to many other groups. Partly because of this the young people were able to get a lot
out of the sessions, and gain a good basic understanding of what djing and mcing was about.
The other aspect of the music was work with a group of older young men who had helped
secure funding with the Youth Centre, for specialised music making software. The group
were all well motivated but needed initial support and encouragement to get their ideas off
the ground, and learn how to be creative with the software. From several early sessions with
the young men, in how to start creating rhythms, songs and melodies, the group took off and
came in to use the computer equipment almost every day. The lads were writing lyrics and
songs whilst they were out side the centre and then converting these into fully fledged music
tracks when they came in, working together, bouncing ideas and sounds off each other. The
development of this group was amazing, from lacking in confidence about using the software
at the start of the summer, to being a focused and motivated group of young men who were
able to convert their ideas into complex musical creations by the end.
Mural project
This project largely took place during the third week of the Centres summer programme. The
plan was to get young people involved in designing and painting a large, bright mural on the
outside of the Youth Centre, which would make the building externally brighter, more
recognisable and increase its level of ownership by young people. In the lead up to the
project, young people contacted on the street and in the Centre were asked if they were
interested in taking part. If groups were interested they were encouraged to come down and
join in that week, with sessions running every day from 11 until about 3, with lunch provided.
The idea was to make the project accessible to all young people; irrespective of their artistic
abilities; whilst also being relaxed, fun and creative. Young people were involved from the
start, helping to buy the paint and choose the colours. Groups and individuals were then
integrally involved in the design and filling in of the individual letters, and the painting of the
blue cloud background. Through the visual nature of the work, young people were attracted
to the project, and many got involved through walking past and taking an interest. This
relaxed way of getting young people involved enabled a wide range of different friendship
groups to take part, make their mark on the Youth Centre and be creative with graffiti art.
Young people were encouraged to take a letter and fill it how they wanted, with some
inspiration from graffiti books if they needed it. The use of masonry rather than spray paint
also meant that young people had a greater control over the finished mural and prevented the
paint from being used for other purposes. During the weeklong project a wide range of young
people were involved in creating a mural that they, other young people and wider members of
the community all seem to be proud of. The almost unanimously positive feedback from
young people and members of the community is a clear reflection of the value that can be
attached to young peoples creations and provides a lasting memento of it for everyone.
Ordsall Youth Windsurfing Club
This project continued to run on Friday afternoons through the summer at the Watersports
Centre. Increasing numbers of young people took part and some of the group who had been
committed from before the holidays started to show strong development of their skills. Some
young people still found it difficult to remain within the boundaries of safe and acceptable
behaviour, particularly on the water. The session is now developing a strong core group that
workers are looking to move onto becoming involved in making decisions about the progress
of the project, helping to apply for future funding and sitting on a steering committee. Young
people and workers have both expressed how much the project has moved on since it started
in April, which is hugely positive.
10 to 13’s work
Theses sessions continued on a Monday afternoon with a programme designed by the young
people attending. The programme includes trips out swimming to Grand Central in Stockport,
a barbecue with food created and cooked by young people and a final day trip to Camelot
Theme Park. The sessions continued to be busy with young people being involved in all
aspects of what was going on. As with the previous term a strong mix of ages and young
people from right across Ordsall area and further a field produced a group who were keen,
enthusiastic and willing to get the most out of what was on offer. The strength of the summer
programme was the weather and the role the young people had in choosing what was on
offer.
Outreach
This street based work was focused on instead of the open Thursday evening session in the
Youth Centre because levels of attendance had dropped o lot before the start of the school
holidays. Also in mid-July, the core group of young women that had continued to come in
when numbers had fallen, badly disrupted a session to such an extent, that to show them the
unacceptability of this workers felt they had no option but to close until autumn. The outreach
work focused upon the whole Ordsall area, including Stowell and parts of the Quays, making
contact with groups on the streets, talking to them both about what was on offer at the Youth
Centre over the summer and about other things coming up for them in their lives.
The outreach, although comprehensive in the area that it covered, was quiet. The contact with
young people created considerable discussion tough, particularly around the Duke of
Edinburgh’s award scheme, (being run at the Youth Centre in the near future,) sexual health,
the Police, the cycling, windsurfing and mural projects and jobs and employment. The
workers were also able to contact new groups of young people and let them know more about
the Youth Centre. Outreach is an important and effective way of publicising what is on offer
to young people, and reaching new groups in the area that know little about the Youth Centre.
General Thoughts
Overall the summer programme was a time when everyone; workers, new and established
young people were able to take part in different activities and pieces of work, enjoy the
weather, learn new skills and make the most of their break from school. The youth work team
at Ordsall Youth Centre all worked hard in creating the summer programme, and were
rewarded with enjoyment, participation and development of young people arising.
Nacro
Over the six week period 21st July – 30th August 2003 the nacro Salford Sports Project held a
multi sports camp for young people aged 6-16 to offer sport as alternative to walking the
streets, crime and anti social behaviour, all sporting activities were free of charge and run by
fully qualified and police checked workers. This was run throughout the City with over 300
young people attending.
The camp proved to be a great success on Broadway with over 80 young people taking part at
some stage of the camp. The sports on offer didn’t just target young males as many sports
programmes do, but we also tried to encourage female participants by offering alternatives
e.g. rounders, hand ball and hockey this did work, and attracted 18 girls out of the 80 that
took part. The Broadway Estate doesn’t have the facilities or resources at this moment in time
to offer sports on a regular basis but hopefully in the coming months the waste ground known
as the SITEC field will be turned into recreation grounds through Greater Manchester Police
and partners.
Over the six-week period we worked along side Salford City Red Rugby League Club to
offer professional sports coaching and advice for the participants of the camp, and this
resulted in an awards ceremony that was held at Salford’s home ground, to reward some of
the young people for their contribution to the project. There were 5 awards given out for each
of the camps: 




Best attitude to sport
Most improved Skills
Best attendance
Best team player
Outstanding achievement
These trophies were awarded in front of o crowd of over 7000 people and as the young
people did a lap of honour the crowd gave a standing ovation. The feedback from the young
people was brilliant and it will be a day to remember for all of them.
After speaking with the local community police officer for the area we found that the summer
camp did have an effect on local residents, they noticed a drop in young people walking the
streets and a reduction in anti social behaviour (Ordsall Community Police Officer Paul
Fawcet 0161 872 5050)
For any more information about the nacro Salford sports project please contact Phil Fitton
coordinator at Deans Youth Centre, Swinton, Manchester, M27 0JF or 0161 793 4705/07775
591 778.
Vision Arts
Drumming and Samba continued throughout the summer. This on occasions caused some
local people to complain about the noise. Local residents were invited to come along and see
the drumming. One resident did this. Sue sent a memo out to the local community explaining
it would continue till 5th December due to trip to Belfast and lighting the legend.
New Barracks Play Scheme
Two weekly play sessions ran throughout the summer, under 8 and over 8 years. 30 – 40
children attended this scheme at Regent Square Park, influenced by the weather. They also
did family trips out and ended with a fun day that attracted lots of local children from the
‘barracks area’.
What should we have done differently?
The children from this area wouldn’t engage with the other activities going on in the area. It
is felt that once SAYO are in Lads Club then these children may possibly attend and it would
break down barriers.
EYDCP
Iris delivered C.P training that was extra to the training week. Difficulties with training
programme - come out 3 times yearly instead or yearly. People not aware of what is
available. If we for see that a group may want training they need to flag up now so it can be
added in the next training programme.
Ordsall Providers Meetings
Every month ‘Ordsall Providers’ meet to share information/ideas on the activities that are
being provided and planned for the children and young people in Ordsall.
During the meetings leading up to the summer programme we have worked together to
ensure that a range of activities were available for various age groups and at various times
during the day, in hope that large numbers of children and young people would engage
themselves and have something to do and that this in turn would contribute to reducing antisocial behaviour / nuisance in Ordsall.
Greater Manchester Police
Future hopes for the children and young people of Ordsall
Consult with local
community.
Multi skilled team – artist,
sport, play & youth workers.
Liaise with senior managers.
Purpose built building for children and young people
that can facilitate high quality arts, sport and play
projects & youth work.
Identify
location
Locate continuous funding to
ensure the longer-term
sustainability & commitment
of the project.
Identify funding
(possible links
with local
developers)