大象传媒

Making Music

The Musical Mums project provides singing and music-making sessions for teenage mums and their babies. Harrogate International Festival have received a grant of 拢18,000 which will enable them to extend the scheme. They hold sessions in Harrogate and, with the help of the grant, they are now providing them in Catterick as well. Both Harrogate and Catterick have a high number of teenage pregnancies. Young mothers often find it difficult to attend traditional baby groups because of economic constraints, poor transport and fear of social rejection from more mature mothers.

With Musical Mums, these young women are able to make new friends amongst their peer group and have great fun making music. They also make a lot of noise with their babies and toddlers!

Alongside the singing sessions, mothers who already attend the sessions will be offered the opportunity to undertake one-to-one sessions with the project leader. The aim is for them to be given the opportunity to lead activities in Harrogate and Catterick, with a view to becoming a paid project leader.

Art therapy

Domestic Abuse Services Scarborough and District received a grant of over 拢90,000 from Children in Need. The service was established to support the needs of victims of domestic abuse and their children who live within the Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale areas.

The grant has enabled the service to offer both individual and group sessions in a safe location. These use poetry, rhyme, music and verse, as well as drama (working in partnership with the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough). Video and film sessions are also offered, alongside more traditional art forms to go some significant way towards healing the emotional trauma the children have experienced.

After school activities

Youngsters in Scarborough's Edgehill area are directly benefiting from the Children in Need appeal. The Butterfly After School Club was awarded more than 拢26,000. It operates under the auspices of the Edgehill Community Association.

The club provides affordable childcare places during term time for children from the local estate and surrounding area. It means that parents and carers can go to work safe in the knowledge that their children will be looked after properly when the school day ends.

Activities at the club include arts and crafts, computing, games and reading in a comfortable environment at the Falsgrave Community Centre. The children can also do homework or school projects while they are there.

Positive action

Interactive Whitby and District marks its tenth anniversary this year, and the grant from Children in Need is another cause for celebration.

Over the years, around 5,000 children have had their lives enriched by various projects in the area. The Children in Need funding of more than 拢62,000 spread over three years has allowed the group to organise days out around the country. Trips have included Alton Towers and the Yorkshire Air Museum.

Andrew, who's 15, is one of the young people who has been helped by the project. He has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair. Andrew, despite his condition, is positive about his future. The 大象传媒 Children in Need funded project has enabled him to make friends and have fun just like any other young person.