Ongoing Initiatives
TeamDaniel want to raise awareness of mental health and in particular exam stress, anxiety and depression in young people. Our story has been shared on Social Media, newspapers, magazines, radio and television. We have met with MPs and mental health charities and delivered talks in schools and the community. It’s a very hard topic to discuss but we have to do it for Daniel. If we help just one other young person, we have made a difference!
Summer 2024
It has been a busy summer with a range of programmes taking place.
First of all we had our regular summer holiday camp with Bee Happy Kids. Four weeks of fun, laughter, free activities and hot healthy meals. From tennis and t-shirt making, to arts and crafts and sports days. It has been a blast thanks again from funding from Leeds Community Foundation and their Healthy Holidays Funding.
We also delivered a Bike Maintenance workshop, where young people were shown how to check their brakes, saddles, pedals, chains and how to look out for punctures. Everyone went home with a certificate and goodie bag which included a bottle cage, lights, bike lock, pump and bike tool kit.
We then went on to host a Learning the Basics of Woodwork course where young people learned how to use tools before putting their skills to the test when they went on to make train planters and bird boxes. Everyone went home with a certificate and new learned skills.
Easter Holiday Camp 2024
Working in partnership again with Bee Happy Kids we were lucky enough to have been granted funding again from Leeds Community Foundation to deliver our popular holiday programme. The four-day camp engaged 34 children We provided a range of fun and inclusive activities including activities that some children wouldn't have had a chance to have taken part in previously. Activities included: Arts and Crafts, Nerf Wars, Sunflower Making, Bread Making, Bouncy Castle, Bug Hunt, Nature Walk, Comic Design, Loom Bands, Slime Making, an Egg Hunt, Multi Sports, Baking and a Park trip. We also delivered a Build A Bear Workshop which was very popular. Every child went home with a bear.
Xmas Holiday Camp 2023
Over the Christmas holiday period we delivered our free four-day camp in partnership with Bee Happy Kids. The camp which is funded by Leeds Community Foundation as part of their Healthy Holidays Funding took place in Yeadon. Not only did we provide hot healthy meals every day, we delivered a number of fun, inclusive and educational activities throughout the four days to 37 children. Activities included a range of Arts & Crafts, Origami, Calendar Making, Indoor Hockey, Dodgeball, Sensory Play Dough, Baking and a Bouncy Castle. We also took the children on a cinema trip to see Paw Patrol which they loved.
Morley 10k
The 2nd Morley 10km road race took place on Sunday 8th October. The event which is run by Morley Running Club in conjunction with Morley Town Parish kindly decided to split the proceeds from the race between both TeamDaniel and MINT (Men in Need Together). The race raised us a whopping £1500. We cannot thank the organisers and all those that took part enough.
We also had our own TeamDaniel runners taking part. Big shout out to Jamie, Lyndsey, Sarah and Emma who took on the challenge and raised an additional £250.
Summer Holiday Camps
Thanks to funding from Leeds Community Foundation, we partnered with Bee Happy Kids (Yeadon) and Groundwork Yorkshire (Gildersome) to once again deliver free camps during the summer holidays in both Gildersome and Yeadon, providing lots of fantastic free activities.
Our Yeadon camp provided four weeks of amazing activities including a range of arts & crafts, various sports (football, obstacle races, tennis, dodgeball, athletics etc.), team building skills, jewellery making, basketball cap competition, science experiments, a Master Chef competition and an end of summer party.
Our Gildersome camp also provided four weeks of brilliant Go Wild activities including cooking, crafting, yoga, mindfulness walks, sports days, gardening and a trip to Lotherton Hall.
Both camps provided hot and healthy meals every day.
Easter Holiday Camps
The Easter Holidays saw us deliver camps at both Gildersome and Yeadon, providing a range of free amazing activities.
With funding from Leeds Community Foundation, we were able to once again work with both Bee Happy Kids (Yeadon) and Groundwork Yorkshire (Gildersome).
There was lots of fun and laughter over four days at our Yeadon Camp. We delivered a variety of activities including Multi Sports, Arts and Crafts, T-shirt designing, Crazy Golf, Lego Building and lots more. A hot healthy meal was provided every day. Everyone went home with an Easter Eggs and we even had a puppy visit.
At our two day Gildersome Camp we learned about healthy eating and how to cook on a budget. We made egg fried rice, pasta, pizza and jacket potatoes. We also played a range of healthy activities which got us thinking about healthy alternatives. We went to the local fields with a clipboard of tips taking photos and finding local wildlife and made dream catchers from twigs and branches.
February Half Term Holiday Camp
We had an amazing day on our one day February Half Term Camp in Gildersome. We made pizzas and apple crumble with custard. Once we prepared the food we all sat down and ate together. We then painted some fantastic money boxes from The Little Biscuit Pottery Painting Studio. We chose money boxes as we learnt about budgeting and saving.
Everyone went home with a healthy bag of fruit from Café Sorella.
All in all it was a fantastic day working alongside Nikki from Groundwork Yorkshire as well as James their new volunteer.
Xmas One Day Camp (Gildersome)
The last Friday before Christmas Groundwork Yorkshire came to Gildersome to hold our first one day camp. Young people had the opportunity to take part in a range of games and joined in with loads of Christmas activities such as making sleighs with chocolate and candy canes. The young people also prepared potato and chilli followed by a yule log and hot chocolate.
Xmas Healthy Holidays Camp (Yeadon)
With funding from the Leeds Healthy Holidays Fund we were able to run our second Xmas holiday Camp in Yeadon for four days over the festive period.
Working in partnership with Bee Happy Kids we delivered a range of different and fun activities for 30 children (5-18 years of age) every day. Activities included: Arts and crafts, science experiments, baking, pizza making, Lego building, a range of indoor and outdoor sports and a Christmas party which included Christmas dinner and meeting Santa. Alongside providing a healthy meal and healthy snacks each day, we were also lucky enough to have sessions from Ping Pong Pete and also organised a cinema trip to see Grinch.
Summer Healthy Holidays Camp
Our summer camp proved to be extremely popular again this year with 67 children attending. With funding from the Leeds Community Foundations Healthy Holidays Funding we were able to provide four weeks of free fun and educational activities, including Obstacle courses, Football, Tennis, Ping Pong, Dance, Parachute games, Gymnastics, Basketball, a range of Arts & Crafts, Nerf Wars, Karaoke, Science Experiments, Retro games, Storytelling and much more.
Once again we provided a healthy meal and snacks every day, and even had a cycling trip to Herd Farm and hosted a party!
Feedback was great with one parent stating ‘I just wanted to say a huge thank you. Thank you so much to everyone and you for everything you have done for us this year. As always it’s made a huge different to our life’s. Thanks again xxxx’
Want to join in the fun? Then look out for future information on our funded Christmas Camp!
Groundworks Yorkshire
During the summer holidays we were fortunate to link up with Groundworks Yorkshire as part of the Leeds Healthy Holidays scheme to deliver two day camps focusing on healthy eating, learning to cook, arts & crafts and making new friends.
On Friday 5th and Friday 12th August the Groundworks team attended our youth club to deliver their Go Wild programme.
We had food related discussions and played food by touch and smell games. We followed recipes to make banana bread and red lentil hummus from scratch and prepared fillings such as tuna mayo, coleslaw and beans for some hearty jacket potatoes.
We made fab sun catchers to enter into the summer healthy holidays competition and created some lovely pieces of art using wood weaving techniques. We also invited our local vicar to come along for some lunch.
For more information on Groundworks, please visit: https://www.groundwork.org.uk/hubs/north-east-and-yorkshire/
Traineeships Event
On Saturday 20th August we worked with Celtrain to identify young people aged 16-18 who might be interested in undertaking traineeships. Celtrain provide short courses, helping to improve skills in the workplace or to move into work. The event which took place at St Peters Church, Gildersome from 1-3pm provided young people and their parents with information on the programme including a wide range of work options and further training and allowed them to discuss any concerns they might of had and ask questions.
It was a busy afternoon with 15 young people signing up to placements for B&M, Construction, Health & Beauty and Engineering courses. More information on Celtrain can be found at: www.celtrain.org.uk
Easter Healthy Holidays Camp
Thanks to funding once again from the Leeds Community Foundation's Healthy Holidays Funding we were able to work with Bee Happy Kids to deliver our very first Easter Healthy Holidays Camp. We provided a wide variety of fun and educational activities for children aged 5+ who are in receipt of free school meals. Activities included Potato Printing, Nerf Wars, Arts and Crafts, Face Painting, Origami, Lego Building, Yoga, Mindfulness Activities, Real Object Painting, Old School Games, Rugby, Ping Pong, Scootering, Hula Hooping, Balloon Modelling and a Sports Quiz.
We also provided a hot healthy meal each day, a range of healthy snacks and fruit tasting activities. We made choc nest crispy buns, had an Easter Egg Hunt and we also provided our very first Magic Show.
Want to join in the fun? Then look out for future information on our Summer Camp!
February Half-Term Holiday Camp
We once again delivered our Holiday Camp over the February Half Term Period. Despite the best efforts of Storm Eunice and Covid-19 it did not stop play! We had to adapt our plans a little, but we still delivered a range of free and fun activities throughout the week. Working again with Bee Happy Kids we provided balloon making, a magic show, sports, arts and crafts, a bake off and lots of fun and games. The week was filled with fun, laughter, learning new skills, making new friends, and trying new foods.
Look out for information on our up-and-coming Easter Holiday Camp!
Team Daniel Christmas Camp
We delivered our very first holiday camp over the Christmas period. Funded by the Leeds Community Foundation we worked in partnership again with Bee Happy Kids to provide free activities over the two-week period for children in receipt of free school meals. We provided a range of fun and inclusive activities for children aged 5+ including a Build a Bear Workshop, Ping Pong, Christmas Crafts (snow globes, decorations, calendars etc.), Santa Visit, Christmas Party, Dance, Drama, Animal Yoga, Movies, Indoor Sports (Hockey, Tag Rugby, Obstacle Courses, Football, Beachball Games, Balloon Tennis) and a Bouncy Castle. Children also took home a Flap Jack making kit and activity packs.
We also worked in partnership again with Belly Bean Bakes who provided a hot nutritious meal everyday alongside healthy fruit and snacks.
Feedback from parents was great:
Parent 1:
“I am writing to give a follow up review about the Team Daniel Holiday Camp.
I want to say how caring the team are and what a difference it’s made to my family. My daughter has attended since the first camp in summer on every school holiday as part of the funded places. She asks if she’s going and when and she gets very excited to go. She comes back showing me all the wonderful things she’s made, and telling me all the wonderful things she’s done.
This Christmas Club she made a bear on one day, on another day she met Santa and got a present! Not once has she said she doesn’t want to go.
It’s not just made a difference for her but for me too. This school year has been so different because of this club. Usually I’m so anxious about having her and her brother at home during the holiday because they both have learning difficulties. Knowing that my daughter is coming to a place that is fun and exciting and positive has reduced my stress levels immensely and also meant I feel good instead of guilty about giving her enough to do.
I cannot thank the team enough. I’m so grateful for this change. They really go out of their way to help.”
Parent 2:
”My children had a fantastic experience with Emma and the team over the Christmas holidays. This enabled me as a single parent to work without losing earnings because of the government funding. I hope that this can become available again in the future.”
Parent 3:
”I’d just like to say that this is the only government-funded childcare I’ve ever seen and it has been very beneficial for me and my kids. It has enabled me to be able to work and the kids have a great time in the process. They’ve met new friends and had a great time.”
Our Partners & Supporters
Youth Night
We are pleased to announce we are teaming up again with Bee Happy Kids to deliver a weekly Youth Night on a Tuesday evening at St Peter’s Church in Gildersome. The night is a free and safe space for young people, providing them the opportunity to talk, take part in a variety of activities and meet new friends.
Sessions take place from 6-7:30pm (11-14yrs) & 7:30-9pm (15-18yrs).
Mental Health Talks
TeamDaniel constantly receives messages from young people feeling stressed and anxious regarding their exams and parents worried about their children and the pressure that exams are placing on them. So, on 1st May 2018 TeamDaniel worked in partnership with The Market Place (Leeds), who provide free one to one support, counselling, group work and drop-in services to young people 11-25 years of age, to hold a talk with parents and young people about to sit their GCSE or A-Level exams at Morley Town Hall. Emma (Daniel’s mum), a counsellor from The Market Place and an occupational therapist provided information on how to destress and techniques for relaxing when they weren’t revising. Young people who needed more support were signposted to Leeds Market Place and other local organisations.
Exam Survival Guide
TeamDaniel have put together Exam Bags at a cost of £1 to help raise funds and also awareness around mental health, especially during exam season. The bags include:
A horseshoe for good luck.
A paperclip for keeping it all together.
A coloured crayon because you have a bright future ahead.
A heart because no matter what the grade you are loved.
Sweets to have a break from revising.
Walk and Talk
Since Daniel passed away, his family and friends decided to meet and go out for walks as a way to help cope with his loss. The walks have grown into ‘Walk and Talk’ walks with a number of new people joining each week. The walks have not only helped us through this awful time but has also allowed us to meet new people and support each other. Two TeamDaniel members have also become accredited walk leaders during this time.
Leeds Rocks
We are working with #LEEDS ROCKS a local rock painting group in Leeds. The idea is to decorate rocks for TeamDaniel and hide them in various locations across the country to brighten someone’s day. It’s a free way of raising awareness for TeamDaniel!
“Post a picture on #TeamDaniel. Rehide and maybe win a prize”
Pancake Day
Pancake Day was Daniel’s favourite day of the year. Since he passed away TeamDaniel has always acknowledged the day and has asked people to send in their photos of their pancakes. We have had hundreds of photos over the past few years. Here’s a few of them…..
