CO-ORDINATED and delivered by Rochdale-based charity Your Trust, on behalf of Rochdale Borough Council, the Holiday, Activity and Food (HAF) programme takes place during the Easter, summer, and Christmas school holidays.
Funded by the Department of Education, the holiday projects provide young people across the borough access to engaging and enriching free activities in a safe and fun environment.
These programmes are held across Rochdale in Heywood, Middleton, Rochdale, and Pennines, with the cooperation of various venues, including leisure centres, community centres, youth centres, community sports facilities, schools, colleges, parks, and trips.
The latest HAF programme, which took place during the recent Easter holidays, provided 7,255 free meals and places to young people in the borough and saw a variety of activities, provided by 64 delivery partners across the borough.
Over the last 12 months, the HAF programme has:
- Given more than 6,800 children access to provision.
- Provided more than 38,800 free meals.
- Included 81 locations and delivery partners.
Scott Hardy, Community Development Manager from Your Trust, said:
“We understand it continues to be a difficult time across the country for a lot of people, and as a charity, we’re trying our hardest to continue offering our support within the local community.
“We are very lucky to have a diverse network of local holiday club providers across Heywood, Middleton, Rochdale and the Pennines. This means there is a wider variety of activities available across the borough for children to take part in, delivered by individuals and organisations that are fully embedded in the local community.
“We love receiving comments from the young people about how much they enjoy the activities and making friends. This is what it’s all about for us, and we want to continue supporting children across the borough to stay active, healthy, and safe throughout the school holidays.”
The programme aims to bring together a range of organisations and providers to offer a variety of holiday activities that include free food to children in receipt of benefit-related free school meals and vulnerable children in the Rochdale borough.
All participating organisations from the public, private, community and voluntary sectors must offer a range of catering, sports, physical activities, and enrichment activities as part of the programme.
These activities include sports, arts, dance, music, STEM, cooking, outdoor activities, trips and adventures, and swimming. All activities are free of charge and include a healthy meal.
The holiday projects aim to achieve the following outcomes for children:
- To be more active during the school holidays.
- To eat more healthily over the school holidays.
- To take part in engaging and enriching activities which support the development of resilience, character and well-being, along with their wider educational attainment.
- To be safe and not be socially isolated.
- To have greater knowledge of health and nutrition.
- To be more engaged with school and other local services.
With the next instalment taking place during the summer holidays, you can find out more information on Rochdale’s HAF programme here: