YOUTH FED’S EL PORTO FESTIVAL HAILED A GREAT SUCCESS

Ellesmere Port based charity Youth Fed brought the sunshine, fun and games to Ellesmere Port communities last Saturday (30/04) through its successful El Porto event

Over 500 children, young people and their families attended a day of free activities and events held at Whitby Park.  

Youth Fed provided a wealth of activities for the day including zorb football, inflatable assault course, drone flying, archery, quidditch, rap and graffiti workshops.  

The activities were designed carefully to build resilience and self-assurance amongst the young people attending, introducing them to different activities and ultimately developing their confidence and showcasing the work of the charity and other community partners and services available. 

Organisations who supported the festival included Chester Sexual Abuse Support Service (CSASS), Rugby Juniors Ellesmere Port, Streetwise Soccer, Mako Create, Girlguiding 2nd Great Sutton Rangers, James Taylor Lyons Art, Cheshire Police, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, National Citizen Service (NCS), Ellesmere Port Scouts and Activity 4 All. 

Chris Hindley, Chief Executive of Youth Fed, comments: “We were delighted by the success of our inaugural El Porto Festival. As the name suggests, we wanted an opportunity to give Ellesmere Port’s young people a real festival experience, but with the added twist of confidence building activities and workshops.  

“It was important to deliver it on the doorstep, where it was the most accessible to our communities and this paid off with over 500 in attendance. We aim for our events to help foster relationships - and we feel the day was a great success in bringing support and joyful moments to young people.’ 

Attendee Sam, 15 years old, from Whitby High School said: “I have really enjoyed today, especially the drone flying. I think there should be more events like this, it is good to get you off the streets and doing something that is not dull and boring.” 

The Police and Crime Commissioner granted £4,655 towards the festival through the Community Action Fund. 

The Community Action Fund has been developed to enable residents and communities to address the issues which matter most to them. The fund enables ideas to be brought to life and gives the community the opportunity to be part of the solution. 

PCC John Dwyer said: “I’m delighted to have supported Youth Fed’s El Porto Festival and to see it has been a success- the Community Action Fund aims to give local residents the tools to empower them to make a real difference in their community and events like El Porto are pointed towards the same goal. 

“I want to encourage residents and communities to come together to improve community safety and community confidence within policing. Together we can make our communities safer.” 

Additionally, Youth Fed matched the Police and Crime Commissioner funding of £4,655. UK Youth and Sport England contributed £570 through Active Youth Funding to support the project and Arnold Clark Community Fund granted £1000 to help their mission to support activities for young people.  

To find out more about Youth Fed, visit: 

https://youthfed.org.uk/  

Find out more about the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Community Action Fund at: 

www.cheshire-pcc.gov.uk/what-the-commissioner-does/commissioning-and-funding/community-funding/community-action-fund/ 

Youth Fed is a Northwest based charity that helps improve the lives of young people through creating and delivering activities and offering one-to-one mentoring. Their online and face-to-face programmes provide support to young people aged 8-25, covering a number of key areas such as employability, mental health, social action and personal and social development. The work that they do enables young people to thrive and achieve their full potential, regardless of their background or circumstance. 

Youth Fed now supports over 7,000 young people directly and over 50,000 through their network of member organisations. 

Pictured - Students from Whitby High School enjoying El Porto Festival at Whitby Park.