Chinese New Year Celebration

Tonight the group spent the session celebrating Chinese New Year.

 

We spent the evening making Chinese Lanterns and decorating Porcelain Dragons.

 

Some of us also prepared and cooked a vegetable stir fry. We sat together as a group and ate the meal. Everyone enjoyed the food and had a great evening!

Bob "Rathbone" Marley!

Tonight we embraced the annual event of black history month by watching a documentary style movie about the life of Bob Marley.

The film was really interesting and provoked a lot of discussion and debate about him and his life.

We had a bit of a quiz about what we had seen on the film and tested each others knowledge on the songs made famous by Bob Marley and about his outlook on life.

Who knew that he once lived down the road in Stockwell?!

New Term, New Equipment

On Tuesday 10th September we started back at youth club.

We took ownership of 6 brand new nexus notebooks, we will be able to access the Internet, play games and much more on the go!

We had a group chat about what everyone got up to during the summer, some people stayed in England and enjoyed the small amount of sunshine we had and some of us went as far away as Spain and Thailand!

Next week we shall be setting up our new wireless keyboards to use with the netbooks!

Summer Day Trip To Littlehampton

On Friday 30th August 6 young people and 2 family members took up the opportunity to visit Littlehampton on a day trip with Rathbone.

We set off at 9am without any delays!

After negotiating our way through the traffic of Croydon, we had a clear run through to Littlehampton.

On arrival we made our way down to the beach, the weather was overcast so there wasn't many people around. Some of us were brave enough to dip our toes....and knees into the sea! It was freezing!

Some of us had fun drawing and writing in the sand before we dried off and went for a fun game of crazy golf.

                 

After golf we took a walk along the seafront and found the fairground and a nice restaurant we we stopped for lunch. Some of us embraced the surroundings by having fish and chips whereas some stuck to burgers!

After lunch we entered the fairground and went on a number of different rides as well as playing on the arcade machines.

At 3pm we left Littlehampton and made out way back to West Norwood.

The day was really fun and we all enjoyed ourselves.



"Rathbone at Woodrow"- The Movie!

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to visit our blog.

 

We hope that you enjoy our photo movie of our week at Woodrow High House. The photos really capture and underline the key characteristics, skills and attributes that we feel are essential and deserved of every young person that we work with.

 

Happy Viewing!

 

 

We would very much encourage and welcome your feedback.

Sunny and fulfilling Day 4 at Woodrow

The morning started off with low ropes, everyone worked together as a team to support and encourage each other. This was a challenging activity that required patience, perseverance, balance and clear communication.

After a quick refreshments break, the swimming pool was a welcome activity in order to cool down and have some unstructured fun! We enjoyed this so much that we have asked to do it again before we go home on Friday.

After another tasty lunch, we did an activity called "night line". This involved being blindfolded and leading each other like a human caterpillar through an obstacle course and through the woods. This was so much fun!

We also had the opportunity to walk over a rope bridge that was very high and very wobbly!

This evening we joined with another group who are also enjoying their last evening for a disco. There were plenty of moves occurring on the dance floor and some of us enjoyed choosing the songs to be played.

After the disco we got together as a group to have a discussion about the experiences of the last week. This was also used as a diversion tactic to allow us to give a selection of personal messages of thanks and goodbye to 1 of our youth workers, Martin. Martin will be hugely missed and has been an amazing and well respected member of staff over the years.

Day 3 of Woodrow Residential

Day 3 of our residential trip to Woodrow began with yet another appetising breakfast that set us all up for the day ahead.

Our first activity was a drumming workshop. The group really enjoyed themselves and unlocked some amazing rythmic and lyrical talents by writing and composing some fun songs about their time at Woodrow.

After our drumming workshop, we went on a very nice and tranquil walk through the woods before sitting down for lunch and having some down time.

Indoor basketball was next and everyone enjoyed themselves and burnt off the calories from lunch!

Our final activity of the day was a great team building activity of building a shelter outside. Everyone joined in and supported one another to ensure the shelter was built to survive all weathers!!

After yet another delicious dinner, we joined another group and had a good old fashioned sing song around a campfire. This was great fun and many of us were brave enough to stand up and engage everyone in as variety of sing along songs. This was great for getting to know the members of the other group.

Wonderful and Wet Woodrow Day 2

After a late night the group woke up for a hearty breakfast and to begin our first full day of activities.

Our first activity was called "eggs can fly" which consisted of the group bring split into 3 small groups. Each group had to devise a safety device to protect a water balloon from bursting when thrown from the second storey of the house.

Unfortunately all the groups devices failed to survive the force of the drop!

This activity was great for building communication and teamwork skills.

After a quick break we took a walk outside in torrential rain to do some pond dipping.

There were many types of insects and pond life found by the young people.

After drying off and having a very nice pasta lunch we spent the afternoon taking part in archery and indoor sports.

Today has been a very productive and fulfilling day with everyone working together to challenge, encourage and enjoy themselves.

Wonderful Woodrow Day 1

Today 10  young people arrived at Woodrow High House in Buckinghamshire. The excitement of leaving the sunny skies of Lambeth reached fever pitch by the time we had reached Earls Court!

We arrived shortly before midday and were welcomed by other fantastic London Youth staff.

The group were given a guided tour of the building and surrounding grounds.

We had a nice lunch before taking part in our first activity of our week away which was orienteering. The group split into 2 and mainly got lost in the woods!

Next up was a team building exercise which required lots of group discussion, encouragement and perseverance.

After getting caught in the beginning of a thunderstorm, dinner was a welcome relief!

 The evenings entertainment consisted of a fun yet slightly competitive (Scott...!) General knowledge quiz. 

After the quiz we had the rest of the evening to ourselves, Group rules were decided and we watched some TV on the laptop before retiring to bed.

Bring on tommorow!!

June Update

Hello and welcome to our latest blog post, The June Update.

Firstly, congratulations go to our volunteer Clifton who has successfully passed his food safety course. Well Done Clifton!!

During the last few weeks we have taken part in off site activities such as bowling and evenings in the park enjoying games and the erractic British summer!

We have also moved venue on a Tuesday evening. We are now based at the Emmanuel Centre in Clive Road, West Norwood.

On our first evening we held a small welcome party for the group and also used the evening to have a service user led discussion regarding the club. This proved to be a very worthwhile and engaging activity.

We have also held a pictorial quiz which was a great success and had the group fully engaged.



14th May- Football at Alford House

Tonight we were welcomed once again to Alford House.

The young people at Alford House entertained our group in a competitive and fast game of indoor football.

The teams were picked and the game began in a fast and pacy style!

There were lots of fancy skills being shown off and a few "heavy" but fair tackles being made. This added to the excitement and determination by both teams to win.

Some of the young people took the opportunity to do some art work and use the computer console facilities at Alford House. Some also joined in with the young people from Alford House who were watching Arsenal vs Wigan on the tv.

Once again, thank you to all at Alford House for their hospitality.

Hockey At Alford House

On Tuesday April 30th, the group took a trip to another youth club- Alford house in Kennington.

The group got involved in an action packed game of indoor hockey. The game was played in a very competitive and fun spirit.

The staff and young people and Alford House made everyone feel very welcome and were very kind and helpful to the group.

23rd April 2013

Tonight the group took full advantage of the fine weather that has finally arrived!!

The group spent the evening at Brockwell Park playing rounders and football. There was also plenty of opportunities for everyone to soak up the evening sunshine, have a picnic and enjoy the surroundings.

 

The rounders match was played in good spirits and it was a closely fought match that ended in a draw!

Next week we shall be visiting Alford House youth club in Kennington.

"Bowled Over"

On Tuesday 16th of April the group visited Elephant and Castle Bowling Centre for an off site activity.

The group were split into 2 teams and the game was overseen by our group volunteer, Clifton.

Everyone enjoyed themselves and the game was played in a good natured, competitive spirit. The young people tucked into some food and drinks during an interval in the game.

After the game had finished, some of the young people took the opportunity to play some of the arcade games in the centre.

Now that the weather is picking up and Summer appears to be getting closer, we hope to utilise the green spaces of South London next week by having an evening in Brockwell Park having a picnic and playing games.

Easter "Rathbone" Style!!

Tonight was our last youth club evening before the Easter half term break.

We decided to embrace Easter and indulged in preparing, making and most enjoyably.............eating giant chocolate Easter nests.

Everybody joined in and enjoyed themselves. It was a very easy thing to make. We melted chocolate, poured it over cornflakes and mixed everything until the cornflakes were covered in all the chocolate. 

We poured the mixture into 2 round tins and attempted to make something that looked like a nest!! 

We added mini eggs to the cakes and put them in the fridge to set for half an hour.

As it was our last night before half term, we used the evening as a general youth club evening and used the IT facilities, Art materials and pool and football table As well as operating our tuck shop. 

 

Some young people took the opportunity to relax and watch some of the group make a bit of a mess with the cake making!!

              

 

On behalf of everyone at Rathbone, we would like to wish everybody a very happy Easter and we will back in 2 weeks time!

Happy Easter!

Tuesday 19th March

Tonight our volunteer activity helper Clifton organised a small round robin pool competition. Clifton recruited the players, organised the fixtures and refereed the games.

4 young people took part and their was plenty moral support and healthy competitive banter amongst the group.

The competiton was played in a fair and fun way by all. The final was a closely fought battle with the ultimate prize of a KitKat at stake!!

                                                                

Some of the group used the art resources and drew some pictures as well as using the IT facilities to listen to music and search the internet.

Staff were also on hand for the young people to discuss and debate a range of subjects important to them from the latest epidose of "Geordie Shore" to their post college hopes and aspirations.

 

Next week we shall be embracing all things Easter related!!